Posted 20 Feb. 2023 at 07:27 PM
There have never been so many overweight French people. According to a study conducted by Inserm with the League against obesity questioning 10,000 adults in 2020, 47.3% are overweight or obese, i.e. nearly one in two people in France.
If this proportion seems to stabilize over time, there is more worrying. According to the authors, there are 17% of people with obesity in France, compared to 15% in 2012. A proportion that has doubled since 1997, during the first studies carried out on French territory.
More and more young people concerned
“This increase is regular and linear,” worries David Nocca, bariatric surgeon at Montpellier University Hospital and co-author of the study. He notes that cases of severe obesity have increased by 6% since the last study conducted in 2012 by the Roche laboratory.
“There is a sharp increase among young populations,” he says. The proportion of obese people has been multiplied by 4 among 18-24 year olds since 1997, and by 3 among 25-34 year olds. The doctor points in particular to the transformation of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, which promote weight gain.
Prevalence of social background
The areas most affected are Hauts-de-France and Grand-Est, where more than 20% of the adult population is obese. A finding that has not changed since the disease has been studied in France. “The importance of the social environment is increasingly marked”, point out the authors. Because eating healthy foods is more expensive than eating processed foods, which promote weight gain. Among workers, 51.1% of the population is overweight or obese. Among managers, on the other hand, this proportion is 35%.
In addition, processed or ultra-processed foods contain sugars and fatty components that make you feel full, but ultimately do not provide enough nutrition in the long run. The nutrients released are not of good enough quality to nourish the body properly.
“There is an obesogenic context favored by industrial foods”, points out Karine Clément, professor of nutrition and director of the Inserm unit “Nutrition and obesity: systemic approaches”. She explains in particular the need to make a global effort to restore a natural and traditional diet, adding that if the health crisis has pushed the French to cook more, it has also led to a reduction in physical activity.
Viewing obesity as a disease
The subject of obesity has returned to center stage with the health crisis. Shortly after the start of the Covid epidemic, numerous studies have shown that obesity and related comorbidities (diabetes, cardiovascular problems) increase the chances of serious forms of the disease. However, according to the authors of this new study, obesity is not yet sufficiently considered as a disease in its own right.
“We must consider obesity in the same way as cancer,” recommends David Nocca. Because like cancer, “obesity is a chronic, fatal disease that presents a risk of recurrence,” he points out. Especially since this disease is itself a factor in increasing the risk of cancer, particularly of the breast.
The authors of the study point out that if there has been a lack of effective care for years, things are progressing from a therapeutic point of view. On the one hand, we now identify types of obesity resulting from genetics, which are rare, but which can be treated using precision medicine. On the other hand, research has now advanced on the use of hormones, sometimes combined, which cause significant weight loss in some patients.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of overweight people has tripled since 1975 worldwide. Although France is still somewhat spared compared to other countries, professionals insist on the importance of prevention. The nutri-score, now displayed on many supermarket products, is a first step towards prevention for the entire population, but it is not enough. There are still barriers that prevent the generalization of this type of indicator, in particular brands that are reluctant to generalize the nutri-score.