The proportion of overweight or obese men is higher in some European countries than it is in the United States, experts said yesterday in an analysis of Europeans' expanding girth.
The International Obesity Task Force estimated that Finland, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Malta have exceeded the United States figure of 67% for overweight or obese males.
"The time when obesity was thought to be a problem on the other side of the Atlantic has gone by," said Mars Di Bartolomeo, Luxembourg's Minister of Health.
In Greece, 38% of women are obese, compared with 34% in the United States.
The report was released at the launch of the 25-nation EU's plan for action on the problem in its member states.
The International Obesity Task Force, a global coalition of obesity scientists and research centres advising the European Union, estimated in 2003 that about 200m of the 350m adults living in what is now the European Union may be overweight or obese.
However, a closer evaluation of the figures in the latest analysis indicates that may be an underestimate, according to the group. Studies have shown that being even slightly overweight can dramatically increase the risk of certain diseases, such as diabetes. Obesity is also linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, respiratory disease, arthritis and some types of cancer.
"We can have disastrous effects from (obesity) on health and the national economy," said EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou.
Up to 8% of the current healthcare costs in the EU can be attributed to the effects of being overweight or obese, he said. To counter the worsening trend, the EU is linking up with the food and marketing industries, consumer groups and health experts, and plans to assess national and industry efforts to counter the trend.
It is the monitoring of the food industry's efforts that makes the EU's approach to the obesity problem "totally novel," said Philip James, chairman of the task force which also advises governments around the world.
"The industry is being challenged to demonstrate, transparently, that it is going to be part of the solution," Mr James said after the launch of the programme in Brussels.
The task force estimates that among the EU's 103m children, the number overweight rises by 400,000 each year.
