Obesity leads to a strong increase in digestive disorders and cancer across Europe, especially in people under the age of 50, where stigmatization and low awareness delay early diagnosis. In response to this, the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) organized Connecting the Dots: Obesity, Digestive Diseases and Cancers on June 5th in the European Parliament. The event brought political decision -makers, clinicians, patient representatives and leading public health personalities to request urgent, coordinated measures.
At the opening of the event, Mep Romana Jerković, chair of the Mep Digeive Health Group, emphasized the extent of the crisis. “Almost 60 % of Europeans and one of three children are overweight or obese,” she said. “Investing in prevention is not only a good health policy, but also a clever economic policy.” She advocated binding, citizenship -related measures and a stronger political commitment.
MEP Alessandra Moretti pointed out that 90 % of the deaths in the EU are due to non -transferable diseases (NCDs), but only 2.8 % of health budgets are available. She emphasized the need for improved screening and an increase in research funds.
In a fundamental speech, Dr. Kremlin Wickramasinghe from WHO Europe that obesity is now the leading cause of disabilities in the European region and contributes to 20,000 new cancer cases annually. He pushed for enforceable, system -wide measures and emphasized that voluntary guidelines were not sufficient.
Scientific lectures underpinned the connection between obesity and cancer in the digestive tract. The professors Patrick Michl and Thomas Seufferlein explained how obesity promotes cancer through chronic inflammation and metabolic disorders. Dr. Jorge Amil Dias spoke about the lifelong burden of obesity in children, while Professor Volkan Demirhan Yumuk demanded a multidisciplinary care in which the focus is on people.
Professor Patrizia Burra, chair of the UEG Public Affairs Group, broadcast the discussion on the implementation of scientific knowledge into politics. The MEP Tomislav Sokol from the European People’s Party emphasized that obesity was a social problem and not individual failure, and called for an EU-wide, social approach similar to tobacco control. The discussion participants called for stricter regulation of food marketing, EU-wide consumption taxes, broader access to therapies such as Semaglutide, early screening on liver diseases and structured weight management after cancer. Above all, they urged to recognize obesity as a chronic, multifactorial disease that requires multidisciplinary care.
In an open question and answer session, the participants asked the political decision -makers to combine scientific knowledge with the experiences of those affected, especially those who have to deal with lifelong illnesses.
MEP Jerković picked up this immediately and concluded the event with a call to act: “Statistics are never only paying; they stand for life. Today we have started to connect the points – now we have to act.”
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