Seventy-six percent of the world’s population are morbidly fat. This was revealed by a research conducted by the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ) and Maff Fitness PTY LTD. Researchers described the increase of ‘overfat’ people as a new pandemic that has quietly overtaken the world. They also said that this may affect an astonishing 5.5 billion people, a plurality of which are athletes.
The said research was undertaken by Dr. Philip Maffetone, lead author, together with research assistant Ivan Rivera, and Prof. Paul B. Larsen, adjunct at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. In a statement, Maffetone said that the overfat pandemic did not exempt those “who exercise or even compete in sports.” The study defines the term overfat as “having sufficient excess body fat to impair health.” It also said that majority of people who fall under the overweight and obese categories include normal-weight people with accelerated abdominal fat. This, according to researchers, is called “normal-weight metabolic obesity.”
According to Natural Running Center, the obesity epidemic has grown considerably over the last three to four decades. Thus, this study defines the exact number of world population suffering from being overfat. The overfat pandemic is now a global health concern because it triggers the rise of chronic disease that cause healthcare costs to skyrocket, affecting people of all ages and incomes.
However, as reported by Frontiers, the study also estimated that 9 to 10 percent of the world population may be underfat. It does not associate the condition of being underfat to worldwide starvation which has dropped tremendously over the recent years. People who fall under the ‘underfat’ category include aging population, an increase in chronic disease, and a rising number of excessive exercisers.
Being obese can be attributed to many factors. Most associate it with eating in excess without the needed physical activity to maintain fitness. A study even claimed the pregnant women who smoke can have obese children.
