University of Ulm Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Professor Dr Martin Wabitsch on Wednesday said that the obesity trends in Western countries have begun to have spill over effects in developing nations as well.
Speaking at a lecture titled Monogenic Forms of Human Obesity, he said that one in three adults in the West were clinically obese and the developing world was fast catching up with this unhealthy trend by adopting a “western” lifestyle. He feared that obesity may become a global pandemic.
“The consequences of this are not only the social and psychological effects of excessive weight, but also the significant morbidity and premature mortality associated with serious medical conditions that obesity predisposes to, including diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease and many forms of cancers”, he said.
Martin further said that rapid industrialisation and its economic consequences had led to the creation of an ‘obesogenic’ environment in which people had easy access to high caloric food and almost no compulsion to exercise. He said that scientific studies had revealed that humans can become obese as a result of simple genetic defects.
“The discovery of novel genes that are involved in this condition, would lead to innovative therapies and preventive measures, opening up new avenues in the management of obesity,” Martin concluded.
