A worldwide group of researchers known as the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration analyzed height and weight data from more than 2,000 population-based studies—encompassing 112 million adults from 1985 to 2017—to identify changes in body mass index (BMI) over this time. They found that more than 55% of the worldwide rise in mean BMI during this period could be accounted for by increases in BMI in individuals in rural areas. In some low- and middle-income countries, this contribution was more than 80%.
These results suggest that a change in approach to rural nutrition is needed.
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Stower, H. A refocus on the rural landscape. Nat Med 25, 1799 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0687-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0687-9
