More than a third of the adult Italian population is overweight (35.3%), just under one person in 10 is obese (9.8%), and due to complications linked to this disease one person dies every 10 minutes:
57,000 deaths a year and over a thousand a week.
These are some of the numbers presented at the round table "Obesity: a neglected disease" on May 8, 2017 in Milan during "Spazio Nutrizione", a conference on healthy eating held ahead of European Obesity Day (EOD) 2017 on Saturday, May 20: an awareness day on obesity, launched in 2010 by the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and promoted by medical communities, patient associations, and Institutions to raise awareness about the need to fight obesity. The theme of EOD 2017 was: "Tackling obesity together".
Obese people in Italy number 6 million, experts estimate, with an impact on the National Health Service of 4.5 billion euros. Lombardy is below the national average, but with a still significant figure: 31.9% of overweight people (over 319,200 inhabitants) and 8.7% of obese people (about 87,072).
Beyond being a medical and health issue, obesity represents a significant cost for the National Health Service: it is estimated that in 2012 this condition was responsible for 4% of Italian healthcare spending. This is also due to comorbidities: overweight and excess weight are responsible for about 80% of diabetes cases, 55% of high blood pressure cases, and 35% of ischemic heart disease and cancer cases.
"Obesity is a treatable disease", says Michele Carruba, director of the Center for Study and Research on Obesity at the University of Milan, "and it is therefore necessary to launch a series of activities aimed, on the one hand, at raising public awareness about the importance of prevention, and on the other, at making the political and ruling class aware that tackling the obesity epidemic is now necessary and can no longer be delayed. The Position paper presented in November 2016 to the Ministry of Health was the first step, to first raise awareness within the Institutions about this epidemic and reach an effective solution".
For this to be possible, specialists suggest, we must start from the creation of Obesity Units, reference centers with a multidisciplinary approach where the obese patient can be followed in every aspect of care by expert dietitians, nutritionists, psychologists, and surgeons, for full 360-degree support.
In this perspective, they note, Veneto was the first region to set up a Diagnostic Therapeutic Care Pathway (PDTA) for the management of obese patients, in order to ensure better handling of the condition while reducing the impact of spending on the National Health Service.
The author's personal reflection: in these days of panic and fear over Coronavirus, far less deadly than the condition of obesity, I have seen obese people on the street stocking up on food out of fear of starving. Carts overflowing with all kinds of junk just to bring home all kinds of food. People with serious weight problems pushing carts piled high, sometimes two carts at a time. They push one and pull the other. But they wear a mask. Health and prevention, above all.
