Brazil: Obesity increasing rapidly among youth

Posted on August 10, 2017 • Filed under: Brazil, Latin America Health, Social Issues

folha.uol.com.br / NATÁLIA CANCIAN The Brazilian people have been starting the fight with the scales earlier. Over ten years, obesity has advanced across all age groups, but has almost doubled among young people aged 18-24 – from 4.4% to 8.5%.

And although its prevalence is still higher among people with lower schooling, obesity has also advanced among those with medium and high levels of study.

The analysis comes from a survey based on data and micro data from all editions of the Vigitel, a research by the Ministry of Health that investigates life habits and risk factors for chronic diseases.

Today, more than half of the adult population is overweight. And about one in five are obese, in which cases the body mass index (BMI) is equal to or greater than 30 kg/m². The index has grown 60% since 2006. Read Article

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