Obesity is now a greater threat to global health than hunger, a new Lancet study has found.
More than one in eight people in the world are clinically obese as the number passed one billion for the first time.
It is now the leading form of malnutrition with the number of people considered underweight falling to below 550 million.
Being obese or underweight are forms of malnutrition because in both cases people are not getting the right nutrients, vitamins and types of calories that are needed to be healthy.
Experts warned that children were paying the price for inaction on obesity by global leaders with under 18s accounting for 159 million of those who are now obese.
A further 879 million adults were considered obese, bringing the total to 1.04 billion out of the world’s eight billion people in 2022, according to the largest study of its kind.
NHS leaders called the study’s findings “alarming” and said obesity rates were “a ticking health timebomb”.
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