New Delhi, March 4 -- In India, 21.8 crore men and 23.1 crore women, totalling up to 44.9 crore or nearly a third of the country's projected population, will be overweight or obese by 2050, predicted a study published in Lancet.

One of the major reasons that is driving the obesity epidemic in the country is the surge in consumption of processed foods high in salt, sugar and fat, said the study.

Obesity in adulthood is also caused by childhood undernutrition, which triggers the accumulation of energy in fat tissues. This increases the risk of early onset of a host of lifestyle disorders such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer, said the study.

"Multinational food and beverage corporations and fast-foo...