Coronavirus death rates are ten times higher in countries where over 50% of the adults are overweight, according to a new study published by the World Obesity Foundation last week.
“Globally, at the end of 2020, COVID-19 mortality rates were more than ten times higher in countries where overweight prevalence exceeds 50% of adults (weighted average 66.8 deaths per 100,000 adults) compared with countries where overweight prevalence is below 50% of adults (weighted average of 4.5 deaths per 100,000 adults),” the World Obesity Foundation wrote.
The US and the UK, which both lead the list of the countries with the highest obesity rates in the world, also lead the list for the highest COVID death rates.
On the other end of the spectrum, Vietnam, which has the lowest coronavirus death rate in the world has the second-lowest level of obesity in the world. In fact, almost all countries with less than a 40% obesity rate have low coronavirus death rates and there is no country with a death rate over 100 per 100,000 that has less than a 50% obesity rate.
The CDC says that obesity can triple the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 since it decreases lung capacity and immune function.
There are some exceptions to the World Obesity Foundation’s findings, including Australia, New Zealand, and several Gulf states, which have high obesity rates but low coronavirus death rates. The report attributes this to the countries’ national responses, such as border controls.
“We now know that an overweight population is the next pandemic waiting to happen,” stated Tim Lobstein, the report’s author. “Look at countries like Japan and South Korea where they have very low levels of COVID-19 deaths as well as very low levels of adult obesity. They have prioritized public health across a range of measures, including population weight, and it has paid off in the pandemic.”
It is also believed that coronavirus vaccines are less effective in obese people, with one study finding that obese people produced fewer antibodies after being vaccinated than those of normal weight.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Actually, development of an overweight condition and obesity is considered by many research studies to be an adverse effect of vaccines themselves.
So here’s the thing: There are halachot against overeating, eating unhealthily, and so on. I even know them. I’d attract comments if I’d sit down to guzzle without washing and benching hamotzi, but I’ve yet to be confronted in shul or elsewhere about my 31 BMI waistline and the habits that caused it. What’s going on? Modern concern about individual freedoms? Postmodern qualms about fat-shaming?
To lastword,
With that twisted logic, go and vaccinate your brain, if you have one.
And the foregoing is without even mentioning the sakanat nefashot of increasing the likelihood and severity of COVID-19.
lastword – I won’t bother pressing you with information on these “many research studies”. Tell me this – do Japan, South Korea, and/or Vietnam vaccinate their populations?
(Unless, of course, you were being sarcastic.)