Vocabulary

Video

Transcript

You’re live with BBC News. A new study has found that one in eight of the world’s population are now classed as obese — that is more than a billion people overall.

The World Health Organization says that governments and the food industry need to support efforts to reduce obesity, particularly in young people.

In the UK, obesity rates have doubled in the last 30 years.

 
All over the world, we’re getting larger. The authors of this study say they are shocked by how fast obesity levels have risen since 1990, and they’re urging governments to get serious about a health problem linked to heart disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

So how did they measure us? By looking at our BMI, or body mass index, which is calculated using a person’s height and weight to work out whether they’re under or overweight.

The data showed that childhood and teenage obesity had more than quadrupled from 31 million in 1990 to almost 160 million in 2022. Among adults, almost 880 million were obese in 2022, four and a half times as many as in 1990.

That’s more than a billion people now classed as obese.

Asia and the Caribbean have the fastest rising rates. In Europe and North America, where obesity has been a health problem for longer, levels aren’t rising so fast but they aren’t sinking either.

Professor Majid Ezzati, Imperial College, London: “Many of these children and young people are going to be living with obesity for the majority of their life unless something is done about it.

To the best that we know, for many outcomes of obesity, the length of being affected by it matters.

 
The World Health Organization says governments and the food industry should make healthy food cheaper, restrict the advertising of foods high in fat, sugar, or salt, and support physical activity and good nutrition in schools.

The new weight loss drugs might be useful as part of a healthy diet, it says, but they’re not the solution to global obesity.

Questions

 
Obese, Overweight. The news report focused on hunger and starvation. True or false?

Diabetes. The only problem with being overweight is being unattractive. Is this right or wrong?

Arthritis. Worldwide, is the rate of obesity increasing, decreasing or remaining the same?

Atherosclerosis, Heart Disease. Is obesity a concern only in OECD (developed) countries?

Cardiac Arrest. Are only middle age people prone to gaining weight?

Tumor, Cancer. Losing weight and being slim is entirely up to the individual. Is this correct or incorrect?

Dementia, Alzheimer’s. What could or should people do to lose weight or keep fit?
 
 
 
Fit and Trim. People in my community are a) mostly overweight, b) mostly slim, c) in the middle, it varies.

Good Nutrition, Whole Foods. Has the average weight changed over the years? Are people getting lighter, heavier or remaining the same?

Exercise, Physical Activity. If people are gaining weight, why has this happened?

Relaxed, Peace of Mind. What might happen in the future?

Serene, Bliss. What could or should people, governments and businesses do?