(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Jamie Oliver believes that obesity is a pandemic that ensures the world's children will live "shorter lives".

The superstar chef spoke at a One Young World conference held in Zurich this week about obesity, a disease that takes the lives of nearly 5.5 million people per year. He is troubled at the rapid increase in countries around the world.

"For the first time in history, being too fat is killing more people than being underweight. This is happening to our kids 42 million under the age of five are obese, and they will live shorter lives," Jamie said to conference delegates.

Jamie does not believe that obesity is a singular problem in any specific nation. He has campaigned in the UK and the US to serve more nutritious foods at schools. Since the condition is so pervasive, he is flabbergasted by the lack of action taken to fight the issue.

"It's not just in America it's in Egypt and Algeria, in Chile and Argentina, in fact much of South America, and China is right behind," Jamie explained. "For the first time in history, we adults are handing over the world to children in a worse state of health than we found it."

Jamie is convinced that obesity is just as terrible as famine. Eating too much can cause adverse effects to the body tantamount to starvation.

"People from poor countries might think that their problem isn't too much food it's that there is too little," Jamie expressed. "But what's crazy is even countries that struggle with famine are starting to see the opposite situation. They are finding families eating themselves to death on fast and processed food." (C) Cover Media