In its latest report, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns of the increasing weight gain of Europeans. According to the institution, 59% of adults and 33% of children living on the Old Continent are now overweight. “Rates of overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions across the region and continue to rise,” the European branch of the WHO said in a statement. After America, Europe is now the continent most affected by obesity. This increase is due in particular to the health crisis and successive confinements, which have favored a sedentary lifestyle and junk food.
Solutions to create a healthy environment. Faced with the scale of the phenomenon, the researchers call on public authorities to implement “policy interventions that target the environmental and commercial determinants of poor diet”. Among the proposals adopted by the organization, we find the taxation of sugary drinks, the restriction of the marketing of foods and drinks harmful to health targeting children or the improvement of the management of obesity by the system. health. As a reminder, overweight and obesity are associated with many pathologies, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancer, and cause more than 1.3 million deaths worldwide each year.
