Childhood Obesity Is Rising <br />'Shockingly Fast,' Says Report.<br />The findings come from a <br />nutrition report conducted by the <br />United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).<br />The report is the agency's most <br />extensive in two decades. It found that <br />one in three children worldwide are<br />either overweight or undernourished.<br />40 million children under the <br />age of five and 340 million <br />adolescents (ages 5-19) are <br />classified as overweight.<br />In adolescents (ages 5-19), <br />the number of overweight children <br />increased more than 10% from 2000 to 2018.<br />It's hard to think of any development indicator where you see such a rapid deterioration, Laurence Chandy, UNICEF's Office of Global Insights and Policy, via NPR News.<br />The most dramatic increases <br />of rates of obesity in adolescents <br />occurred in low and middle-income countries. .<br />This is likely due to increased <br />availability of processed foods, <br />which are inexpensive, high in <br />sugar but low in essential nutrients.<br />While dire, the report points <br />to improvements in fighting <br />poverty around the world.<br />Poverty levels have reduced enough that people have agency about what to buy, but then they have to make the right choices under various constraints, including markets which provide a limited choice of food with poor nutritional quality, Laurence Chandy, UNICEF's Office of Global Insights and Policy, via NPR News
