Overweight and obesity have generally increased among the French between 1996 and 2017, with differences between the sexes: while the growth in corpulence seems to be stabilizing among men, the increase continues among women, according to a study unprecedented in its duration.
In its latest weekly epidemiological bulletin, published on Tuesday, Santé publique France provides results based on telephone surveys carried out regularly over the past two decades on a representative national sample.
"This is the first time that we have obtained a 20-year follow-up of the declared corpulence of the French," Charlotte Verdot, an epidemiologist at Santé publique France, told AFP.
The analyses involved a total of 124,541 people aged 18 to 75: 55,356 men and 69,185 women.
Among men, the proportion of people reporting being overweight increased between 1996 and 2008, rising from 40% to 48% respectively, and since then appears to have stabilised at around 48-50%.
Obesity, which affected 7% of men in 1996, increased to over 14% in 2016, before falling to 13% in 2017.
Among women, corpulence has increased steadily. Reported overweight, less than 25% in 1996, reached 39% in 2017. Reported obesity, less than 6% in 1996, stood at 14% in 2017.
Overweight (including obesity), although more significant among men, thus seems to be stabilizing, while its increase continues among women, summarizes Santé publique France.
This growth in corpulence "is found in all Western countries", underlines Charlotte Verdot. It is explained in particular by changes in lifestyle, with an "increase in sedentary lifestyle, a decrease in physical activity, more 'junk food'"...
Body mass index (BMI) was estimated by calculating the body mass index (BMI), dividing the reported weight in kilograms by the square of the reported height in meters. Overweight is defined as a BMI greater than or equal to 25, obesity as a BMI greater than or equal to 30.
These data, which will have to be corroborated by the collection of measured anthropometric data, confirm previous results.
According to a study called "Obepi", carried out every three years between 1997 and 2012, then relaunched in 2020 by the League against obesity, 17% of adults were obese that year, or nearly 8.6 million people. They were 15% in 2012 and 10.1% in 2002.
– Risk factors –
"The study by Santé publique France shows us that the evolution has not been the same in men and women," also underlines Charlotte Verdot.
Among the factors explaining this difference, "we can draw a parallel between the levels of physical activity which have recently deteriorated among women while remaining the same among men," notes the epidemiologist.
"There is a lack of data related to age: we know that there can be a shift in women at menopause," points out Karine Clement, professor of nutrition at Sorbonne University and director of a research unit at Inserm.
"Obesity is a multifactorial disease, which reflects the evolution of our society but can also have links with social vulnerability," adds the researcher.
Factors linked to "stress, endocrine disruptors, biological mechanisms which lead to weight gain in certain people" are not all fully understood, according to her.
Since almost half of the French population is overweight, it is in any case "urgent to have preventive care campaigns, but also once it has set in", argues Ms Clement.
Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, certain cancers or premature death, as well as certain infectious diseases as was highlighted during the Covid-19 crisis.
In April 2023, Martine Laville, professor of nutrition at the University of Lyon, proposed in a report submitted to the government 40 very concrete avenues for combating obesity.
Among them, developing an attractive school catering offer for students, particularly in priority neighborhoods, or integrating the identification of overweight and obesity into the new prevention consultation.
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