UNITED NATIONS: Obesity has skyrocketed among children and adolescents bombarded by “unethical” marketing of junk food, outpacing undernourishment to become the leading form of malnutrition worldwide for the first time among those age five to 19, UNICEF warned Tuesday.
In a dire report, the United Nations children’s agency projected that nearly one in 10 individuals within that age group will be living with the chronic disease in 2025, fueled by easy availability of ultra-processed foods “even in countries still grappling with child undernutrition.”
Today “when we talk about malnutrition, we are no longer just talking about underweight children,” UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement on the report’s release.
“Ultra-processed food is increasingly replacing fruits, vegetables and protein at a time when nutrition plays a critical role in children’s growth, cognitive development and mental health.”
The fight to reduce world hunger is bearing fruit in some areas, with prevalence of underweight youths on a downward trend, falling from 13 percent to 10 percent between 2000 and 2022 among 5-19 year olds, according to data collected in 190 countries.
But over the same period, overweight numbers in the age range have soared, doubling between 2000 and 2022 from 194 to 391 million.
The spike is even more pronounced for obesity, a more serious form of overweight associated with metabolic disorders such as diabetes, certain cancers, anxiety and depression.
In 2022, eight percent of those 5-19 worldwide, or 163 million, were obese, compared to three percent in 2000.
