Up to 80% of Irish men over the age of 25 could be obese by the year 2050, according to a new report published in the Lancet Journal.

Ireland is the sixth highest country on this list, with 75% of Irish women in the same age bracket also expected to be overweight or obese in 2050.

These figures are up 63% from back in 2021.

According to the HSE, 37% of people in Ireland are currently overweight, while a further 23% are obese.

Body diversity UK; An overweight man playing badminton for exercise, UK. Image: Kumar Sriskandan / Alamy. 17 March 2012

HSE lead for obesity Dr Donal O’Shea told Lunchtime Live that this acceleration has been brought on by huge environment changes in the last 30 years.

“We’ve engineered physical activity out of our adult life and we have a food environment that’s unrecognisable from 40 years ago,” he said.

“Now, I’m hoping those figures are an overestimate - there’s some encouragement that we’re beginning to level off in our obesity climb at the moment, and we’re even beginning to see a little bit of a down trend.

“But our levels are way too high even as they are, and we already have a situation where over 60% of our adults over the age of 50 have overweight or obesity.”

'Chronic disease'

Dr O’Shea said we need to acknowledge that obesity is a “chronic disease”.

“It’s a complex interaction between genes and environment like other chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease,” he said.

“We have to then start energising prevention but also actively treating.”

According to Dr O’Shea, we need to move past the idea that obesity is a choice in order to reduce stigma and treat it properly.

“There are different types of obesity, and we now realise that – and some are a form of food addiction, but many are not,” he said.

“I think it’s really important that we recognise that not everybody living with obesity has the same drivers.”

Dr O’Shead said that the way food is advertised to young people on social media also promotes unhealthy patterns of food consumption that drives obesity.

Digital Advertising screen on Cardiff Queen Street. Image: AdKing / Alamy. 11 December 2023

A patient of Dr O’Shea’s, Gary Kirwan, told the show that he had been at “the absolute worst place in my life” about four years ago as a result of obesity.

“I was 60 stone, I was a shut-in at home, I wouldn’t go anywhere – and to be perfectly honest with you, I was just waiting to die,” he said.

“But I was very fortunate to be sent to Donal, and four years on I’ve lost 27 stone."

However, Mr Kirwan said treatment can be difficult to access due to a lack of funding.

Main image: Two people in an obesity centre. Image: BSIP SA / Alamy Stock Photo