30 % of the world is fat

Almost a third of the world is now fat, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis, the Newsmax Health reported.

Researchers found more than 2 billion people worldwide are now overweight or obese. The highest rates were in the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 60 percent of men and 65 percent of women are heavy. The U.S. has about 13 percent of the world's fat population, a greater percentage than any other country.

Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and colleagues reviewed more than 1,700 studies covering 188 countries from 1980 to 2013. "When we realized that not a single country has had a significant decline in obesity, that tells you how hard a challenge this is."

Murray said there was a strong link between income and obesity; as people get richer, their waistlines also tend to start bulging.

Last week, the World Health Organization established a high-level commission tasked with ending childhood obesity.

"Modernization has not been good for health," said Syed Shah, an obesity expert at United Arab Emirates University. "Years ago, people had to walk for hours if they wanted to make a phone call," he said. "Now everyone has a cellphone."

Shah also said the villagers no longer have to rely on their own farms for food.

In Britain, the independent health watchdog issued new advice on Wednesday recommending heavy people be sent to free weight-loss classes.

About two in three adults in the U.K. are overweight, making it the fattest country in Western Europe.

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