One in 10 of the world's adults is obese, according to a joint UK-US study published in The Lancet Imperial College London and Harvard researchers studied body mass index (BMI), cholesterol and high blood pressure data from 1980 to 2008.
High blood pressure and cholesterol fell in many developed countries while obesity generally rose worldwide. Men in the UK have the sixth highest BMI in Europe while UK women have the ninth highest BMI in Europe. Obesity, cholesterol and high blood pressure are all risk factors for heart disease.
In 2008, 9.8% of men and 13.8% of women in the world were obese - they had a BMI above 30kg/m2. This is compared with 4.8% for men and 7.9% for women in 1980. Pacific island nations had the highest average BMI in the word at 34-35kg/m2. This was up to 70% higher than some countries in south-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
In common with the rest of the world, BMI rose among most high-income countries. Among those countries, BMI rose the most in the USA between 1980 and 2008, followed by New Zealand and Australia for women and the UK and Australia for men.
However, while obesity rates in many countries across the world increased, many higher income countries succeeded in reducing both high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Large reductions in high blood pressure were seen, for example, in women in Australasia and men in North America. Overall, the percentage of people in the world with high blood pressure fell slightly.
However, for UK adults, blood pressure fell by less that most other European high-income countries. Blood pressure levels were highest in the Baltic and East and West African countries. Systolic blood pressure levels reached 135 mmHg for women and 138 mmHg for men in those areas.
Average levels of total blood cholesterol fell across many Western countries including North America, Australasia and Europe. In the UK men and women both showed one of the largest drops in cholesterol in high income countries. However the UK's cholesterol is still ninth highest in the world.