The bird flu isn't the only pandemic we should be worrying out.

Obesity threatens to overwhelm health systems around the globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, experts at the International Congress on Obesity warned Sunday.

"This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world," Paul Zimmet, chairman of the meeting of more than 2,500 experts and health officials, said in a speech opening the weeklong International Congress on Obesity. "It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu."

___

BY THE NUMBERS:

The World Health Organization says more than 1 billion adults are overweight and 300 million of them are obese. Zimmet, a diabetes expert at Australia's Monash University, said there are now more overweight people in the world than the undernourished, who number about 600 million.

___

HE SAID IT:

"We are not dealing with a scientific or medical problem. We're dealing with an enormous economic problem that, it is already accepted, is going to overwhelm every medical system in the world," said Dr. Philip James, the British chairman of the International Obesity Task Force.

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.