By comparison, there were 117 million underweight boys and 75 million underweight girls last year after the number peaked around the year 2000, the study said. Make healthy food affordableExperts divide people into body mass categories calculated on the basis of their weight-to-height ratio. Obesity comes with the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, while underweight children are more at risk from infectious diseases. While obesity in children and teens appears to have plateaued in rich countries, its rise continued in low- and middle-income countries, they found. "Unaffordability of healthy food options to the poor can lead to social inequalities in obesity, and limit how much we can reduce its burden."

Source: The Nation Bangkok October 10, 2017 22:30 UTC