Obesity has become the leading health risk factor in Brazil, overtaking hypertension, which had been the top concern for decades. It is now followed by high blood pressure and high blood sugar.
This is one of the key findings of the national analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study, conducted by thousands of researchers worldwide and covering more than 200 countries.
The Brazilian findings were published in the May issue of the scientific journal The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. The study emphasizes that the population has undergone major lifestyle changes in recent decades, including increased urbanization.
This scenario has contributed to lower levels of physical activity and the adoption of high-calorie diets rich in salt and ultra-processed foods.
Endocrinologist Alexandre Hohl, a member of the Brazilian Association for the Study of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome (Abeso) and the Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabology, also pointed to these changes.
According to him, these behaviors create an “obesogenic environment” for Brazilians. In his view, obesity is one of the country’s greatest public health challenges.
“Obesity is not simply excess weight; it is a chronic inflammatory and metabolic disease that increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart attack, stroke, and several types of cancer.”
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These lifestyle changes and their consequences are evident in comparison with the 1990 data. At that time, the three leading risk factors were hypertension, followed by smoking and particulate matter air pollution.
A high Body Mass Index (BMI), the primary indicator of obesity, ranked seventh, while high blood sugar ranked sixth. By 2023, obesity had become the leading risk factor, after a steady increase in attributed risk of 15.3 percent since 1990.
The comparison between 1990 and 2023 brings both good and bad news: on the one hand, the risk of death or reduced quality of life associated with particulate air pollution has fallen by 69.5 percent.
Significant reductions of approximately 60 percent were also recorded in smoking, preterm birth, low birth weight, and high LDL cholesterol levels.
However, after many years of sustained decline, the risk associated with smoking rose slightly – by 0.2 percent – from 2021 to 2023.
Also noteworthy is the risk associated with childhood sexual abuse, which increased by nearly 24 percent. This factor ranked 25th in 1990 and jumped to 10th in 2023.
Current leading risk factors for mortality or loss of quality of life:
• High body mass index;
• High blood pressure;
• High blood sugar;
• Smoking;
• Prematurity or low birth weight;
• Alcohol abuse;
• Particulate air pollution;
• Kidney dysfunction;
• High cholesterol;
• Childhood sexual abuse.
Source: Agência Brasil