University of Groningen
The obesity epidemic in Europe
Vidra, Nikoletta
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below.
Document Version
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
Publication date: 2019
Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database
Citation for published version (APA):
Vidra, N. (2019). The obesity epidemic in Europe: Assessing the past and current mortality burden and the future of obesity. University of Groningen.
Copyright
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).
Take-down policy
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.
The obesity epidemic in Europe: Assessing the past and current mortality burden and the future of obesity.
Propositions
1. The mortality burden of obesity in Europe is significant and is increasing over time (this thesis).
2. The current impact of obesity on life expectancy at birth in Europe is considerable, and amounts to 1.2 years among men and 1.0 years among women, on average (this thesis). 3. Obesity’s associated mortality burden clearly varies across European countries, in line
with the different stages of the obesity epidemic that these countries have reached; and with important variations in individual lifestyles and contextual factors (this thesis). 4. The observed variations in obesity prevalence and obesity’s associated mortality burden
across countries point to the need for country-specific public health policies (this thesis). 5. The significance of the birth cohort effects in obesity-attributable mortality highlights the importance of early life dietary exposure on later life obesity-related health outcomes. This finding should be an important impetus for developing youth-oriented policies aimed at encouraging healthy dietary patterns (this thesis).
6. The burden of obesity is projected to increase further in in Europe, and may even double in some countries. This finding highlights the importance of and the need for continuous and effective public health action (this thesis).
7. Given the importance of the health burden associated with the obesity epidemic, it is remarkable that data limitations in Europe have prevented researchers from gaining a better understanding of the impact of the problem (this thesis).
8. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” (Hippocrates).
Nikoletta Vidra March 2019
