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People are getting fatter in all parts of the world, with the possible exception of east Asia, doctors found in a one-day global snapshot of obesity.
Overall, 24 per cent of men and 27 per cent of women seeing their doctors that day were obese, and another 30
per cent of men and 40 per cent of women were overweight, the researchers found.
That puts the rest of the world close to par with the United States, long considered the country with the worst weight problem. An estimated two-thirds of Americans are overweight and a third of these are obese.
People who are overweight have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer.
The study, conducted at the French National Health Institute and published in Circulation, evaluated 168,159 adults who happened to be seeing their primary care doctors in 63 countries across five continents - but not the United States - in 2006. In all regions except southern and eastern Asia, 60 per cent of men and 50 per cent of women were either overweight or obese.
This was measured using body mass index, or BMI, which calculates height to weight. A BMI of 18-24 is considered healthy. People with BMIs of 25 to 30 are overweight and anyone with a BMI of 30 or more is obese.
Just 7 per cent of people in eastern Asia were obese, compared to 36 per cent of people seeing their doctors in Canada, 38 per cent of women in Middle Eastern countries and 40 per cent in South Africa. Canada and South Africa led in the percentage of overweight people, with an average BMI of 29 among both men and women in Canada and 29 among South African women. In Northern Europe, men had an average BMI of 27 and women 26. In southern Europe, the average BMI was 28. In Australia, BMI was 28 for men and 27.5 for women while in Latin America the average BMI was just under 28.
Other experts noted that the people studied were all seeing doctors at the time.
This clearly would affect the results, said Dr Gerald Fletcher, a cardiologist and spokesman for the American Heart Association.
While the poorest people in industrialised countries tend to be among the most overweight, this is not the case in the developing world, where the poorest have little chance of ever seeing a doctor and are also often undernourished.
- Reuters