Covid wiped out the countries where a large proportion of people suffer from obesity

Proof of this is the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy, where more than 50% of adults are overweight: 88% of all deaths associated with coronavirus occur in these countries, according to The Washington Post. In the United States, for example, where 68% of all adults are overweight, only 12% of covid ICU patients were of normal weight. 24% were overweight and 64% were obese.

“We were shocked to see such a high correlation between the proportion of overweight adults in the country and deaths from Covid-19”, - said the report's author, former WHO adviser Dr. Tim Lobstein. "We knew that this problem exists in some countries, but it turned out that it is observed all over the world".

Among countries where more than half of the adult population is overweight, Belgium has the highest death rate. It is followed by Slovenia, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal and the USA. At the opposite end of the ranking is Vietnam, which has the world's lowest death rate from Covid-19 and the second highest overweight in the population.

The main factor affecting mortality is age, the report says. However, being overweight comes second. Due to the increased risk of death, overweight people need to be prioritized when vaccinating and testing for coronavirus. In addition, the new data should force the authorities to urgently begin the fight against obesity.

The authors of the report also correlated mortality from covid and the level of GDP and found that the level of income does not matter. There are rich countries with low overweight, such as Japan and South Korea, which have very low death rates. And there are poor countries, such as South Africa and Brazil, where more than half of the population is overweight, where the death rate from Covid-19 is high.

“We now know that overweight is the next pandemic waiting in the wings”, - the authors of the report said. Calculations have shown that mortality is 10 times higher in cases where more than half of adults had a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25 This is the border after which the normal weight becomes overweight. You can find out how to calculate your BMI here.