The truth about obesity: 10 shocking things you need to know | Life and style | The Guardian
As a nation we are getting fatter to the point of crisis. But why? And
what are the implications? For starters, it's hard to treat after the
age of five and is bankrupting the NHS
1. Nearly two-thirds of the UK population is either overweight or obese
Fat,
not thin, is today's norm. But studies show that we don't notice
because it has happened gradually and we have got used to seeing people
who are overweight. Kids in pictures taken on the beach in the 1950s,
with ribs showing, look famished to modern eyes. They are of normal
weight. A quarter of us are actually obese, defined as a body mass index
(weight in kg divided by the square of your height in metres) of 30 or
above. BMI is not a brilliant tool for every individual – biceps packed
with muscle weigh as much as flab – but it is satisfactory at a
population level.
Men are fatter than women (67% of men and 57% of
women are overweight or obese in the UK, according to the Global Burden
of Disease study from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation in
Seattle). Socio-economically deprived areas tend to have higher rates
of people who are overweight, but no income group is immune. There is a
community effect: you are more likely to be overweight if your friends
and neighbours are and you see it as the norm.
The food industry encourages us to buy fattening foods. Photograph: 64/Ocean/Corbis
