Obese people Outnumbering undernourished

Obese people Outnumbering undernourished

Worldwide statistics indicated that the number of obese people is outnumbering the hungry ones despite the growing food crisis throughout the world, the International Federation of the Red Cross reported Thursday.  The humanitarian group based in Geneva, Switzerland focused its annual World Disasters Report mainly on “nutrition” which was released in New Delhi.

The report seeks to highlight the gap and disparity among the rich and the poor as well as the growing food crisis due to the recent sudden increase in food prices. By using statistics last year, the IFRC said there are about 1.5 billion individuals suffering from too much obesity while only 925 million are underweight and undernourished. Based on statistics, 20% of the world’s population is obese and overweight while 15% are hungry, underweight and undernourished.

Bekele Geleta, IFRC secretary general, has been worried about the figures saying there might something wrong.  Jagan Chapagain, director in the Asia Pacific Region, called the situation as a double edged scandal during the New Delhi press conference. Excess nutrition kills more than those who are hungry, he added. Hungry people are increasing not because of food shortage worldwide but because food were not equitably distributed and some are wasted adding to the fact the increasing food prices making it more inaccessible.

Posted by George Daniels on Friday September 23 2011, 2:57 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0