(Mark Lieber/ CNN) — The Mediterranean diet is well-known for its positive effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health. But according to new data from the World Health Organization, childhood obesity rates in the Mediterranean region are among the highest in the world.
The new WHO report, presented Wednesday at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna, indicated that of 34 countries in the European region, the countries of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, San Marino and Spain had the highest rates of childhood obesity. In these countries, approximately one in five boys was obese (18% to 21% of boys). Rates of obesity among girls were only slightly lower.
Childhood obesity is more prevalent in this region than in the United States, where approximately 17% of children are obese, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Obesity in the majority of the member states affects 1-2 in every 10 children. The problem is more serious among southern European countries,” Dr. João Breda, head of the WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, which authored the report, wrote in an email. (…)