A new report has warned the global annual cost of obesity has risen to 2.2 trillion dollars - almost as much as smoking, or the combined impact of armed violence, war and terrorism.
The study's authors have called on governments around the globe to take the problem more seriously with tougher restrictions on junk-food advertising.
The report- produced by the McKinsey Global Institute -found 2.1 billion people were obese.
That's about 30 per cent of the global population.
And the report offers the stark prediction that nearly half of the world's adult population will be overweight or obese by 2030, should present trends continue.
One of the report's authors, Richard Dobbs, said that about 15 per cent of health-care costs in developed nations were driven by obesity-related problems.
he told the BBC, the problem was becoming more widespread in many developing nations as well.
"We're already seeing in emerging markets as the countries get richer, the rate of obesity rises on a very similar trend line to what we see in the developed world", Mr Dobb said.
"The types of challenge we have in addressing obesity can be very similar to some of the other challenges we're likely to have over the rest of this century such as dealing with inequality, ageing and government deficits. We need to find a new way of working between the private sector and the public sector in addressing these types of problems."
The report called for a range of strategies to combat obesity, including restrictions on the advertising of high kilojoule food and drinks.
It also called on fast-food companies to reduce packaging and portion sizes and for better kilojoule labelling.
The report's authors acknowledged that poor diet was only one factor and an effective obesity strategy should also include better exercise programs in schools and workplaces.
The Vice President of the World Federation of Public Health Associations Michael Moore said there should be an integrated strategy.
"Considering the size of this problem, it's really clear that governments have been much too reluctant to use their power to regulate where it's necessary and one really good example is on the marketing of junk food to children," Mr Moore said.
"But what is really important about this report is it is saying that you can't just do one thing. You have to do a whole series of things at once if you're going to have any chance of being able to wrestle with this obesity epidemic."
The National Heart Foundation estimated more than five million Australians were obese.
It said obesity had overtaken smoking as the leading cause of premature death and illness in Australia.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are 1.9 times as likely as non-indigenous Australians to be obese.
The Heart Foundation's Queensland Director Rachelle Foreman said progress has been made, including the inclusion of kilojoule counts on fast-food menus.
But she said governments should restrict junk-food advertising when children were most likely to be watching television.
She said there was strong support for this across Australia.
"What we need though is national action", Ms Foreman said.
"As you know, with advertising it's not easy to define the boundaries to state borders, particularly with online advertising. So we need national action on this from the federal government with the support of all the states and territories."
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