Majority Of World Population `overfat': Study

ISLAMABAD, Jan 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 06th Jan, 2017 ) : An astonishing 5.5 billion people up to 76 per cent of the world's population are 'overfat', warn researchers and argued for a change in global health efforts against chronic and metabolic diseases.

The researchers, including those from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, put forth a specific notion of overfat, a condition of having sufficient excess body fat to impair health, reported BBC health.

Based on a new look into current data, they argue how, in addition to those who are overweight and obese, others falling into the overfat category include normal-weight people. "The overfat category includes normal-weight people with increased risk factors for chronic disease, such as high abdominal fat, and those with characteristics of a condition called normal- weight metabolic obesity," said reseachers.

While the obesity epidemic has grown considerably over the last three to four decades, this work casts light on the much higher numbers of people who may have unhealthy levels of body fat. However, an ageing population, an increase in chronic disease and a rising number of excessive exercisers or those with anorexia athletica, are adding to the number of non-starving underfat individuals.

This leaves as little as 14 per cent of the world's population with normal body-fat percentage, researchers said. This is the first effort to globally quantify those who are overfat versus overweight or obese. The traditional body-mass index (BMI) measures weight and height, but is not a direct measure of body fat, researchers said. APP/meh/kmd