On health front, it seems that toughest challenge for Europe would be the rising tide of obesity, especially among the kids, as more and more European kids are putting on flab fast.
This rising trend called, childhood obesity, is pointing to a serious threat, because it may hit the entire Europe hard, not only from health point of view but from economic point of view too because obesity, by turning people prone to several mental as well physical problems, would certainly effect people’s working skills.
Experts believe that majority of kids who are overweight would remain obese when they grow into adults. On seeing the facts, given below, this sounds grimmer:
• One in every five children is overweight or obese.
• 18% of French children are overweight and 4% of them are obese.
• In Europe, 10-20 percent of men are obese and almost half the population is overweight.
May be that the threat of childhood obesity is somewhat grimmer in Europe but to say that other countries are not facing this crisis on health fronts, would be wrong as childhood obesity is emerging as a threat to not few countries but to the entire world, which could be cited through the following points:
• Obesity Raising Its Head in Africa!
• Obesity at Its Peak in England!
• Obesity rates rise throughout USA
• Canadian obesity rates rise dramatically in 25 years
One more thing that comes to the fore in this regard, is the fact that the brunt of obesity is being faced not only by the countries that are rich but poorer countries are also seeing a steep rise in obesity cases. This much of rise in childhood obesity is quite disturbing because it is bound to introduce them with several life threatening health problems. In this regard, it is quite worrying that people are relying on artificial methods like ‘bariatric surgery’ to get rid of their extra flab and still are not recognizing the importance of physical workouts. This shows the fact according to which the number of US children going for obesity surgery has in the recent years.
Every one of us will have to understand that bariatric surgery may help just in the short run but in order to stave off obesity in the long run we shall have to stoop towards the long-term solution, which is sufficient physical workout and good eating habits.
