| England and Scotland
have one of the fastest growing obesity rates in the world. The proportion
of the population who are obese more than doubled between 1980 and the
early nineties.
Latest obesity rates (2001 figures) show 21% of men and 23.5% of women over 16 years have a Body Mass Index of 30 or more in England. These figures compare with 13/2% of men and 16.4% of women in 1993 and just 6% among men and 8% among women just 20 years ago. Mordid obesity (severe obesity with a body mass index of 40 or more) have trebled among men (from 0.2% to 0.62%) in men and almost doubled (from 1.4% to 2.5%) in women from 1993 to 2001. Link to Department of Health - Trend Data for Adults 1993-2001 Link to Scottish health survey data for 1998
Click here for - Proportion of population aged 16-64 who were overweight/obese in relation to The Health of the Nation target - England between 1986-1994 |
| Association
for the Study of Obesity
The Chairman of the ASO Dr.
Andy Hill (Division of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University
of Leeds)
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| This is the text of a 1999
UK government press communique:
Britain runs to fat New figures published by the DoH show that the prevalence of obesity in the UK is rising dramatically; 17 per cent of men are obese, compared with 13 per cent in 1993, and in women the rise has been from 16 per cent to 20 per cent. Public health minister Tessa Jowell said the government was very concerned, given the clear links between obesity, heart disease, and certain cancers. She blamed an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, a poor understanding of what constituted a balanced diet, limited access to fresh fruit and vegetables, and poverty. The government planned a range of long-term initiatives starting with action in schools to ensure that children received a proper diet and were encouraged to walk or cycle to school. The new healthy living centres would run such activities as nutrition classes. Doctors would be encouraged to prescribe exercise to their patients as appropriate. The public would be given more information about diet and nutrition to help people make informed choices about their food. Source: Press release (Department
of Health 1999)
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