World Food Day: Increasing disease and obesity, the global challenge to healthy living
Obesity and lack of essential nutrients impact people's health and generate concern among experts, who argue that transforming eating habits requires a comprehensive approach: individual choices, effective public policies and universal access to healthy food, a challenge that extends worldwide.
An overweight person drinking soda.
Every October 16 marks World Food Day, a day designed to reflect on the challenges facing humanity to ensure healthy diets. Today, concern is growing over a dual phenomenon: while millions of people suffer from malnutrition and lack of essential nutrients, millions more struggle with being overweight and obesity.
This food paradox represents one of the major global public health problems.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that obesity and diet-related diseases - such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease - continue to increase, even in developing countries. At the same time, food insecurity persists, leaving many populations without access to nutritious food. This combination threatens not only physical health, but also the productivity, social well-being and economic development of nations.
Experts agree that changing eating habits is not the responsibility of the individual alone. It is a multidimensional challenge that requires coordinated actions: public policies that promote access to healthy foods, effective nutrition education, regulation of the food industry and the creation of environments that facilitate healthy choices.
Likewise, ensuring the availability of fresh and nutritious produce for all people is critical to addressing this crisis in an equitable manner.
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The celebration of World Food Day invites society to reflect on its relationship with food, to question habits and to drive change. From a global perspective, the goal is clear: to ensure that all people have access to sufficient, varied and balanced food, thereby reducing the risk of disease and promoting a healthier life.
Obesity and being overweight continue to increase
In 2025, the situation is alarming: obesity and the amount of people overweight continue to increase, and associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer have become global epidemics.
Global data
- Obesity in adults: In 2022, approximately 16% of adults worldwide were living with obesity, equivalent to more than 890 million people. This figure has increased significantly since 1990, when only 6% of adults were obese, WHO confirms.
- Overweight adults: 43% of adults globally were considered overweight in 2022, representing more than 2.5 billion people.
- Children and adolescents: By 2022, more than 390 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight, representing a significant increase since 1990, when only 8% of this age group had this condition.
Projections for 2030: It is estimated that, if current trends continue, nearly 3 billion adults (approximately 50% of the world's adult population) will be considered overweight or obese by 2030, asserts the World Atlas of Obesity.
The alarming numbers of obesity in the United States
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between August 2021 and August 2023, the prevalence of obesity in adults in the U.S. was 40.3%, with a higher rate in women (41.3%) than in men (39.2%).
The prevalence of severe obesity in adults was 9.4%, being higher in women (12.1%) than in men (6.7%).
Assessing recent trends, between March 2023 and March 2024, the average adult obesity rate was 43.1%, a slight decrease from 43.3% the previous year.
A recent study suggests that, under a new definition that includes measures such as waist circumference and body composition, nearly 70% of adults in the U.S. would be considered obese, explains The Guardian.
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Children and adolescents in the U.S.: health, food and obesity
Approximately 41.1% of children and adolescents aged 5-17 in the U.S. are estimated to be overweight or obese, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
In the under-5 age group, about 13.6% are overweight, while 7.9% are underweight, according to the same study.
Challenges and solutions
- Public policy: Only 7% of countries have adequate health systems to address obesity, according to the World Obesity Atlas 2025.
- Nutritional education: It is essential to promote education on healthy eating habits from an early age.
- Access to healthy foods: Ensuring access to nutritious and affordable foods is essential to prevent and treat obesity.
- Healthy environments: Creating environments that encourage physical activity and access to green spaces can contribute significantly to reducing obesity.
This World Food Day 2025 reminds us of the urgency of addressing obesity and being overweight as global public health issues.
It is imperative that governments, institutions and communities work together to implement effective policies that promote healthy lifestyles and prevent associated diseases. Only through a joint effort will we be able to reverse current trends and ensure a healthier future for the next generations.
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