Adoption at the state level of measures against the spread of fast food is able to slow down - and even reverse - the obesity epidemic in countries with high levels of income, suggests an independent study published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

Scientists suggest that the measures taken by the State to limit the spread of fast food can be an important step in the fight against overweight and obesity, which significantly increases the risk of serious diseases such as diabetes, heart failure, stroke and cancer.

"If the state does not start more tightly control the economic process, the invisible hand of the market will continue to create conditions for the spread of obesity worldwide, with catastrophic consequences for human health and productive economic development," - said the head of the research team, Dr.Roberto De Vogli of the University of California, Davis, in the United States, who led the study.

Authors of the study were the first to establish a link between the weakening of state regulation of economy, including agriculture and food sectors, and increased consumption of fast food.

People with a BMI equal to or greater than 25, were classified as overweight, a BMI of 30 and above is considered an indicator of obesity.

The study authors found that the average annual growth in the number of transactions at fast food restaurants from 26.61 to 32.76 corresponded to average increase of BMI from 25.8 to 26.4. Thus, during the study period an increase of one unit of the annual average number of transactions per capita corresponded to increase in BMI by 0.0329.

BMI data also show the scale of the problem of overweight and obesity in the world. It turned out that the inhabitants of 25 countries for which the study was conducted, on average, are overweight and this situation persists for over 15 years.