The Interrelation between Obesity Management and Climate Change in Greece

Two major global problems of our era are climate change and obesity. Both are interlinked and interconnected having undesired social, economic, environmental impacts as well as harmful impacts on human health. The rate of obesity and overweight in children and adults in Greece is high compared to other EU countries causing many health, social and economic problems. Climate change is foreseen to have severe and harmful impacts in Greece as well as in other Mediterranean countries altering the climate conditions. Obesity and its treatment mitigate climate change, mainly due to the change in the dietary pattern of the treated patients. The proposed diets for managing obesity, based on Mediterranean dietary patterns, have less GHG emissions and lower climate footprint. Climate change makes more difficult the treatment of obesity, mainly due to the rising temperatures. Climate change has undesired and harmful impacts on obesity treatment in Greece while obesity treatment results in the mitigation of climate change in the country. Future policies for climate change mitigation and managing obesity in Greece should take into account their mutual interconnections and interlinkages in order to maximize their effectiveness in treating these two severe pandemics in the country.