By NAN Contributor
News Americas, Santiago, Chile, Fri. Jan. 27, 2017: A new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has identified obesity as a major problem in the Caribbean and Latin America. Here are the Caribbean nations the report, ‘The Panorama of Food and Nutrition Security in Latin America and the Caribbean,’ says, has the fattest people:
1: The Bahamas
According to the report, the Caribbean island is the Bahamas has the highest obesity rates in the Americas. Around 69 percent of their nationals are overweight according to the report making the country also the number one Caribbean nation with the fattest people.
2: Barbados
Barbados was second on the list with the report putting the obesity rate on the island at 36 percent.
3: Trinidad and Tobago
Coming in at third on the list of islands with the fattest Caribbean people is Trinidad and Tobago with 31 percent obesity in its population.
4: Antigua and Barbuda
The tiny Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda rounds out the top four list of islands with the fattest Caribbean people at 31 percent as well.
The report also noted obesity affects 140 million people – 23 percent of the region’s population – and that the highest rates are to be found in the four Caribbean nations. Health experts blamed processed and junk foods and consumption of foods high in sugar for the epidemic.
“The alarming rates of overweight and obesity in Latin America and the Caribbean should act as a wake up call to governments in the region to introduce policies that address all forms of hunger and malnutrition by linking food security, sustainability, agriculture, nutrition and health,” said FAO’s Regional Representative Eve Crowley.
