The keyword focus is: "The world’s expanding waistline IELTS reading answers"
IELTS Reading Practice Test Time Allowed: 20 Minutes Source: Adapted from WHO, The Lancet, and Global Nutrition Reports
READING PASSAGE The World’s Expanding Waistline: A Global Health Crisis For the first time in human history, the number of overweight people rivals the number of underweight people. While famine and food scarcity dominated the 20th century, the 21st century is defined by a silent, slow-moving pandemic: obesity. The world’s waistline is expanding at an alarming rate, transforming from a problem of wealthy nations to a universal threat affecting low and middle-income countries the most. A. The Statistics of Surplus According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global obesity rates have nearly tripled since 1975. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults aged 18 years and older were overweight. Of these, over 650 million were obese. To put this in perspective, roughly 39% of the world’s adult population carries excess weight. If post-2000 trends continue, it is projected that by 2030, approximately 57% of the world’s adult population will be overweight or obese. This is not merely a cosmetic issue; it is a epidemiological time bomb. B. The Nutrition Transition Nutritionists describe this phenomenon as the ‘Nutrition Transition’. This model explains the shift from traditional, high-fibre diets to modern, high-fat, high-sugar, and high-calorie diets. Concurrently, the world has moved from manual labour to sedentary occupations. In developing nations, the adoption of a ‘Western diet’—rich in processed meats, sugary beverages, and refined grains—has occurred faster than economic growth can support public health infrastructure. Mexico, for instance, now has a higher obesity rate than the United States, largely due to the mass consumption of soft drinks and processed snacks. C. The Double Burden of Malnutrition Perhaps the most cruel twist in this narrative is the ‘double burden’ of malnutrition. This refers to the coexistence of undernutrition (stunting and wasting) alongside overweight and obesity within the same population, or even within the same household. In countries like India and Indonesia, a mother may be obese while her child is anaemic and underweight. This paradox results from poor maternal nutrition during pregnancy, leading to low birth weight, followed by accelerated weight gain in childhood due to calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods. Consequently, these children face a lifelong risk of chronic disease. D. Economic Consequences The expanding waistline carries a staggering economic price tag. The McKinsey Global Institute estimated in 2014 that obesity costs the global economy $2 trillion annually, equivalent to the impact of smoking or armed conflict. These costs arise from direct medical care (diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis) and indirect costs such as absenteeism, reduced productivity, and early retirement. Countries with universal healthcare systems, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, report that obesity-related diseases consume between 4% and 8% of total national health budgets. E. Failure of Individual Willpower For decades, the prevailing narrative blamed obese individuals for lacking self-control. However, mounting evidence suggests that biology overrides willpower. The human body evolved over millennia to defend against starvation, not against excess. When an overweight person loses weight, their body responds by increasing hunger hormones (ghrelin) and decreasing satiety hormones (leptin), creating a powerful biological drive to regain lost weight. Furthermore, the modern food environment—with cheap, hyper-palatable, ultra-processed foods available 24/7—exploits these ancient neurological pathways. F. Potential Solutions Reversing this trend requires systemic, not individual, solutions. No single intervention works in isolation. Experts advocate for a ‘portfolio approach’: taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages (as seen in Mexico and the UK), front-of-pack warning labels, restricting marketing of junk food to children, and subsidising fruits and vegetables. Urban planning also plays a role; designing cities for walkability and cycling reduces sedentary time. However, pharmaceutical interventions, such as GLP-1 agonists (e.g., semaglutide), represent a new frontier. While effective, their high cost raises ethical questions about equity in low-income nations. G. Conclusion The world’s expanding waistline is not a sign of prosperity but a marker of systemic failure. Without aggressive, multi-sectoral action, the generation of children alive today will be the first to live sicker and die younger than their parents’ generation, not from infectious disease, but from the direct consequences of excess weight.
QUESTIONS Questions 1-5: True / False / Not Given Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? the worlds expanding waistline ielts reading answers
More people in the world are currently underweight than overweight. Mexico’s obesity rate increased because of economic growth improving public health infrastructure. In some countries, a household can simultaneously contain an obese adult and a malnourished child. The economic cost of obesity is higher than the cost of smoking globally. Individual willpower is considered the most effective solution to obesity according to the author.
Questions 6-10: Matching Information to Paragraphs Which paragraph (A-G) contains the following information?
A comparison between the biological response to weight loss and historical human evolution. The estimated percentage of adults expected to be overweight or obese by 2030. An example of a country where sugary drink taxes have been implemented. The term used to describe the co-existence of overnutrition and undernutrition. The percentage of national health budgets consumed by obesity-related diseases in countries with universal healthcare. The keyword focus is: "The world’s expanding waistline
Questions 11-13: Summary Completion (No more than TWO words) Complete the summary below using words from the passage. The global rise in obesity is explained by the ‘Nutrition Transition’, where high-fibre diets are replaced by foods rich in fat and sugar. Simultaneously, jobs have become less physically demanding, leading to more (11) _______________ occupations. In developing nations, the so-called (12) _______________ diet has been adopted rapidly. One proposed solution to reduce consumption involves placing a (13) _______________ on sugar-sweetened beverages.
ANSWER KEY Questions 1-5: True / False / Not Given
False
Explanation: Paragraph A states: "the number of overweight people rivals the number of underweight people." 'Rivals' means they are similar, but the statement says more are underweight, which is not supported.
False