Food and the Fight against Modern Obesity – You Choose Well, Eat Well with InfoCons, the Protection of consumers

In recent decades, obesity has become one of the most serious public health problems globally. Traditionally, the causes of this condition have been attributed to a combination of excessive nutrition and lack of physical activity. Though, recent coordinated research with the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency suggests that the real explanation is more complex then previously thoght.

The study, based on the largest international nutrition database, shows that increased calorie intake is the determining factor of obesity, rather than reducing physical activity. This discovery brings a new perspective on the strategies for preventing and controlling this modern epidemic.

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1. Diet, and not lack of movement, explains the increase of obesity

Research conducted with data from over 50 institutions in 19 countries has shown that the main cause of obesity increase in industrialized societies is the increased consumption of foods, not the decrease of the level of movement. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, questioned the theory that physical inactivity would be responsible for the extra kilos accumulated with economic progress.

Professor Herman Pontzer, an evolutionary anthropologist and a global health specialist at Duke University, stressed that, although numerous efforts have been made to identify the deep causes of obesity, the relative importance of diet and physical exercise has long remained unclear. Due to the “Doubly Labelled Water” database made available by the International Atomic Energy Agency, scientists managed to clarify this uncertainty for the first time.

The results show that the human body does not burn considerably less energy in developed economies, but simply receives more through nutrition. Simply put, the caloric intake – not a sedentary lifestyle – is the real engine of body weight gain.

2. Alarming growth of worldwide obesity

Global statistics are worrying: in 2022, almost one in eight people in the world lived with obesity, which means a doubling of cases among adults and an increase four times among adolescents compared to thirty years ago. This chronic and complex disease, characterized by excessive accumulation of body fat, increases the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Although the incidence of obesity has exploded in industrialized countries, the phenomenon is rarely encountered in customary or rural communities, where lifestyle is more active and diets are simpler and more natural. For a long time it has been assumed that the difference is due to the higher level of physical activity, but the new study shows that the major difference is due to nutrition.

Populations in urbanized environments consume on average more processed foods, high in sugars and fats, which leads to a constant caloric surplus and the gradual accumulation of body fat. Essentially,modernization did not necessarily reduce movement,but multiplied access to food sources.