Overweight people a threat to food security

18 Jun 2012, 12:16 pm   -   Source: PA
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A farmer plants lettuces in Niger, a country frequently affected by food crises. (Getty Images)

A farmer plants lettuces in Niger, a country frequently affected by food crises. (Getty Images)

London scientists say overweight people are a threat to future food security and obesity must be tackled to reduce our ecological footprint.

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Overweight populations could have the same implications for world food energy demands as an extra one billion people, researchers say after examining the average weight of adults across the globe.

Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) say that tackling population weight is crucial for food security and ecological sustainability.

The United Nations (UN) predicts that by 2050 there could be a further 2.3 billion people on the planet and that the ecological implications of the rising population numbers will be exacerbated by increases in average body mass, researchers said.
               
The world's adult population weighs 287 million tonnes, 15 million of which is due to being overweight and 3.5 million is due to obesity, according to the study, which is to be published in BMC Public Health.

The data, collected from the UN and the World Health Organisation, shows that while the average global weight per person is 62kg in 2005, Britons weighed 75kg. In the US, the average adult weighed 81kg.

Across Europe, the average weight was 70.8kg compared to just 57.7kg in Asia.

More than half of people living in Europe are overweight (55.6 per cent) compared to only 24.2 per cent of Asian people. Almost three-quarters of people living in north America are overweight.


Researchers predict that if all people had the same average body mass index (BMI) as Americans, the total human biomass would increase by 58 million tonnes.

The authors of the study say the energy requirement of humans depends not only on numbers but average mass.

"Increasing biomass will have important implications for global resource requirements, including food demand and the overall ecological footprint of our species," they wrote.

"Although the concept of biomass is rarely applied to the human species, the ecological implications of increasing body mass are significant and ought to be taken into account when evaluating future trends and planning for future resource challenges.

"Tackling population fatness may be critical to world food security and ecological sustainability."

Professor Ian Roberts, who led the research at LSHTM, said:

"Everyone accepts that population growth threatens global environmental sustainability - our study shows that population fatness is also a major threat."

"Unless we tackle both population and fatness, our chances are slim."

Ella Pickover, Press Association Health Correspondent

Science

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Your Comments

food / inefficient unsustainable mass-manufactured consumables

slette6 - from oz, 11 months ago

in order to run out of food doesnt one first need to run out of:- -soil -seeds -rain -sunshine people will need more info about why that is before these excuses could ever be valid

It's okay to be hungry

Michael - from Toowoomba, 11 months ago

Contrary to what a lot of diet marketing tells you ("eat what you like without being hungry and still lose weight!"), it's actually normal and okay to feel hungry. People should get used to feeling hungry, it's a normal condition felt by a sizeable majority of the world. Get used to drinking water, or just embrace the feeling of hunger. Control your "I'm hungry so I'm going to allow myself to be anti-social" tendencies and just get on with life. You DON'T have to eat every time you feel hungry!

Food better to be eaten by a human than a garbage bin...

LD Ash - from SA, 11 months ago

Not all overweight people are overeaters. Some just don't get enough exercise. I've seen skinny little fellows put away a whole pizza, wash it down with beer and then crash out on the lounge. It's about genetics. If people would like to get real on this situation, let's talk about "food wastage", rich white people throwing away perfectly good food because it's 1 day old, and simply not good enough for such angels from heaven. Fat or not, I think wealthy honkies are _always_ the issue.

The Matrix

Simon X - from New York, 11 months ago

Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but...you humans do not. You move to an area...and you multiply...until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to.. spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Humans beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet...

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