The European Day Against Obesity is celebrated annually on May 21st, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the problems caused and associated with obesity. To help consumers reduce high-risk behaviors, it is important for them to make informed choices to ensure the availability of healthy options.
Overweight and obesity are characterized by abnormal or excessive fat accumulation and are defined by the WHO, considering the body mass index (BMI). Thus:
- Overweight: BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²
- Obesity: BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²
Analyzing data from the European area, made public by Eurostat and WHO, we mention some relevant statistics:
- In almost every country in Europe, more than half of all adults are overweight;
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- In Malta (62.5%) and Latvia (60.4%), the percentage is even over 60%;
- The only European countries where less than 50% of the population is overweight are Italy (41.9%), Switzerland (45.6%), France (46.4%), Cyprus (47.9%), Montenegro (48.1%), the Netherlands (48.3%), Belgium (48.9%), and Luxembourg (49.7%), although even in these cases the percentage is not small;
- According to data from 2022, Romania ranks 4th in Europe in the obesity rate according to BMI.
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- The obesity rate in the European Union is over 50%;
- 1 in 6 European citizens struggles with obesity;
- Overweight and obesity cause more than 1.2 million deaths each year in the European Region of the World Health Organization;
- Obesity is the fourth leading cause of death in Europe, accounting for over 13% of total deaths, according to WHO;
- The obesity rate in the EU is higher in men than in women.
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On the occasion of the European Obesity Day, InfoCons provides consumers with the European InfoCons App. With the help of the app, consumers can choose for themselves what they eat by simply scanning the barcodes of products. Thus, anyone can access the following useful information in the selected language:
- Scanning the barcodes of food products to find out the ingredients, number and type of food additives, allergens, sugar content, salt, and calories.
- Customizing the app for those with specific health problems and special dietary needs by setting the quantity of salt, sugar, numeric and typological additives.
- Calculator where the amount of product consumed can be entered to instantly find out: the amount of salt and sugar, the number of calories, and the sports activities needed to burn those calories (walking, running, and cycling).
- Saving the scanned product in the “Saved Products” section, allowing consumers to create their own shopping list, daily/weekly menu, and recipes.
- From the “Saved Products” section, consumers can find out the total number of additives, as well as the total amount of sugar and salt in the consumed products.
- Real-time alerts for food and non-food products at the European Union level.
- Dictionary of terminology in the field of consumer protection, environment, banking, finance, labor, insurance, energy, etc.
European InfoCons App is a useful and free tool that can be used in 33 languages, and it can be downloaded from the following stores: App Store, Google Play, and App Gallery.
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Sources:
- europa.eu/eurostat
- who.int/europe