The burden of obesity, a major public health challenge
Obesity is the major public health challenge, and it affects every country in the world for many years to come. The main concern related to this disease is that overweight triggers in cascade, other pathologies such as, for example, type II diabetes (which is manifested by a detrimental rise in blood sugar levels) and various cancers such as those of the prostate or breast. All this jeopardizes the good figures recently announced by the OECD, which speaks of a 60% drop in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disorders for more than 50 years now.
A paradox from a global perspective
In 2015, the figures are still edifying:nearly 2 billion overweight adultsconsume more kilocalories than they spend and one billion human beings do not have enough to eat. The obesity epidemic is still galloping and the WHO continues to alert the world’s population of its harms. However, nothing helps!
This pathology, which has doubled in the last 25 years, now kills more than undernutrition. What a paradox!
Thus, low-income countries have a double handicap: infectious diseases and undernutrition are on one side of the scales and overweight and obesity are on the other. And when we know that the research sector is much less financially lotied than that of food marketing, it is clear that the evils of overweight are not an illusion and that the pharmaceutical industry is really looking into the problem.
In the coming years, the dietary trends of the world’s population will not reverse. In adolescents, this finding is even more catastrophic. They are the first victims of an industrial diet rich in sugars, fats, salt, gluten, artificial sweeteners, glucose and fructose … All these caloric dishes, inexpensive but devoid of interesting micro-nutrients at an optimal state of health. Those who live in disadvantaged areas are more subject to the vagaries of excess kilos. Junk food is still problematic for these families despite the good initiatives of the WHO.
Several hopes remain possible within the laboratories
In Missouri, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have implanted human gut bacteria in rodents that, when derived from an overweight person, cause excess weight in guinea pigs and do not cause excess weight when these bacteria are derived from thin people. Thus, scientists have imagined transplants of intestinal flora from thin subjects.
Another track, that of genetics, is just as promising. In fact, a genetic circuit, which is linked to overweight, decides whether fat from the body is eliminated or retained by it. The mechanism is complex but it could allow, according to scientists, to reverse or even eradicate obesity.
Finally, for several years now, the microbiota has required the full attention of researchers around the world. These bacteria that remain in our digestive tract have a future …
Through these various studies, it is clear that several avenues are promising and favored by scientists. The stakes are highand laboratories will be at the forefront of marketing molecules in the form of tablets, capsules or pharmaceutical powder. Indeed, it should be noted that, according to the World Health Organization, soon nearly 2 billion adults will be overweight with, out of this total, more than 600 million obese.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.