Covid Deaths High In Countries With More Overweight People: UK, US, Italy, 50% + Adults Overweight

[appalachiablue]

'Covid deaths high in countries with more overweight people, says report.' The Guardian, March 3, 2021. Governments urged to prioritise obese people for vaccinations over greater risk of death from coronavirus. - Ed.

Countries with high levels of overweight people, such as the UK and the US, have the highest death rates from Covid-19, a landmark report reveals, prompting calls for governments to urgently tackle obesity, as well as prioritising overweight people for vaccinations. About 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths from Covid were in countries with high levels of overweight people, says the report from the World Obesity Federation. Countries such as the UK, US and Italy, where more than 50% of adults are overweight, have the biggest proportions of deaths linked to coronavirus. The issue is not just obesity, but levels of weight that many assume are now normal in many countries. Death rates are 10 times higher in those where more than half the adults had a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25kg/m2 – the point at which normal weight tips into overweight.

People who are overweight should be given greater priority for vaccinations and tests because of their increased risk of death, says the World Obesity Federation.

Among countries where more than half the adult population is overweight, Belgium has the highest level of deaths, followed by Slovenia and the UK. Italy and Portugal are 5th and 6th, while the US is 8th. Vietnam, by contrast, has the lowest Covid death rate in the world and second lowest level of overweight in the population. The director general of the World Health Organization said the report must act as a wake-up call to governments globally to tackle obesity and the poor health it causes. “The correlation between obesity and mortality rates from Covid-19 is clear and compelling,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Investment in public health and coordinated, international action to tackle the root causes of obesity is one of the best ways for countries to build resilience in health systems post-pandemic: we urge all countries to seize this moment.”

The biggest factor in the death toll is age, says the report, but being overweight comes second. It is already known to increase people’s risk when they contract infectious diseases such as flu.

“We were shocked to see such a high correlation between a country’s proportion of overweight adults and its deaths from Covid-19,” said Dr Tim Lobstein, the report’s author and former adviser to the WHO and Public Health England. “We knew there was a problem in a few countries, but we found it was remarkably consistent across the globe – with just a few outliers like New Zealand and Iceland, where they have taken strong measures to protect a vulnerable population.” The risks rise with increasing overweight. An analysis of the data seen by the Guardian shows that in the UK, where almost 64% of adults are overweight or obese, nearly 20% of Covid patients in intensive care are of normal weight, 32% are overweight and 48% are obese.

In the USA, where adult overweight and obesity is at 68%, 12% of Covid patients in intensive care have normal weight, 24% are overweight and 64% are obese. The results allow for age and are not skewed by poor data from some countries, said Lobstein. Deaths tend to be reported accurately even if hospitalisations are not. They adjusted for GDP and found income levels did not play a part either. “There are rich countries with low levels of overweight, like Japan and South Korea, and they have very low Covid death rates. Equally, there are lower-income countries like South Africa and Brazil, where overweight is now affecting more than half the population, where we see high Covid-19 death rates,” he said. “We now know that an overweight population is the next pandemic waiting to happen,” said Lobstein. Governments have been negligent, and ignored the economic value of a healthy population at their peril. For the last decade they have failed to tackle obesity.. “It appears governments want to avoid taking on the commercial interests in food and agriculture"...

More,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/03/covid-deaths-high-in-countries-with-more-overweight-people-says-report

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. I am not remotely surprised.

Several times I have Googled people in their thirties who were reported to have died from Covid, and to a person a photograph showed someone clearly overweight.

My BMI had me in the obese category for some years. Last summer I decided it really was time I took off some weight. I'm currently down 35 pounds, hope to take off ten more. My BMI is currently 25.1, just into the overweight category. Even if overweight or obesity weren't a factor in Covid deaths, I'm very glad to have lost all that weight. Especially as I had a serious heart attack back in December, when I'd already taken off at least 25 pounds.

I will say that this weight loss has been surprisingly easy, mainly because at my age (72) my appetite just isn't what it was in earlier years, which helps a lot.

I'll add this. I essentially never consume soft drinks of any kind. Sometimes, on a long driving trip, I will get one when I stop for gas. Otherwise, never. Not sugar ones, not sugar-free ones. But I've been soft-drink free for several decades now, so that has little or nothing to do with my losing weight.

[appalachiablue]

2. It's a real problem in the US and other countries noted.

Maybe this pandemic will wake up people about the need for healthy weight and lifestyle.

Good on you, stay well. I also never got into soft drinks, extra calories, junk.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. I used to consume soft drinks about as much as most people.

Over time I went back and forth between diet and regular.

Then, in the early 1990s, my younger son would consume soft drinks to the exclusion of other, better things. So I stopped buying soft drinks of any kind. At first, I was genuinely resentful. Why should he have control over what I consumed? But after a while I got used to it, and honestly stopped missing them. On occasion, I've been at something where beverages are available, and for me the soft drinks are essentially invisible.

Oh, and for what it's worth, the chemicals in diet drinks tend to leach calcium from the bones. Hmmm. Women are generally the major consumers of diet soft drinks. Is there any surprise that there is essentially an epidemic of osteoporosis?

[MFM008]

3. skinny people

can get sick to.....

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. That is certainly true.

But the connection to overweight and obesity and dying from Covid is crystal clear.

[tanyev]

6. I've read several articles saying that a high A1c number is a predictor

for severe cases of Covid. Of course, obesity and high A1c often go hand in hand.