translated from Spanish: We’ve gained six kilos per person since 1985 as humanity

Many countries, including Chile, are in the midst of an epidemic of obesity and overweight, which entails a series of diseases and associated problems affecting society and quality of life. But, according to the media reported by the country of Spain, an investigation signed by more than a thousand scientists, ratified this on a global scale, because after analyzing the weight and height of more than 112 million people in almost all countries between 1985 and 20 17, he concluded that the increase in weight is a transverse trend, and that would reach no less than 6 kilos per person from the mid 80 ‘s. Specifically, they indicated that the body mass index has increased an amount equivalent to each person fattening about six kilograms, and this particular rise is due in 55% to obesity in rural areas, being predominant in poor countries or income Median, places where this percentage reaches 80%. Epidemiologist Majid Ezzati, one of the main authors of the study, noted that “we have seen the opposite of the paradigm”, and that for a long time the scientific community has thought that the global epidemic of obesity and the growth of cities went hand , but in this analysis the data point in a different direction. In this regard, Ezzati, a member of Imperial College in London, said that “in high-income countries, it is actually easier, in many respects, to eat healthily in cities, because there are fresh food available and perhaps cheaper, and there are also more Sports facilities “. The study was published during the day of this Wednesday in the prestigious journal Nature, and revealed among other things that the body mass index has increased on average 2.1 kilograms per square metre from 1985 in rural areas, both in women and Men. However, as far as cities are concerned, this increase has been reduced to 1.3 in women and 1.6 in men. It should be remembered that the body mass index is calculated by dividing the weight in kilograms by the height in meters squared. Researchers involved in the study called for “urgent” access to healthy food to “prevent rural malnutrition in poor countries from being replaced by malnutrition with low calorie intake Quality “. In this line, the year 2016, the World Health Organization had called on all countries of the world to implement a 20% tax on sugary beverages linked to the global epidemic of obesity and diabetes. The epidemiologist, Napoleon Perez, another investigator who conducted the study, indicated that “and it is necessary to regulate to the maximum the publicity directed to the children. That are not fooled by things that cannot be called or food. ” Antonio Cabrera, an epidemiologist at the University of La Laguna and co-author of the study, emphasized that the results also send a political message, since “the rural world in most of the planet already has money to buy food. He’s not malnourished, he’s malnourished. International aid programmes must focus on combating malnutrition, not on malnutrition. ”

Original source in Spanish