A shocking study has found that British people would be the fattest in Europe by the year 2025. Already, there are more obese people than underweight people due to poor diet and lack of exercising. Researchers at Imperial College London said the true health impact of poor lifestyles was being masked in the UK by statins and beta-blockers which lower blood pressure and cut cholesterol and are now taken by millions of older people.
However, they warned that within a decade so many people will be severely obese that such drugs will stop working and surgery will be the only option to prevent disease and early death.
Health experts in Britain have termed it a ‘national tragedy’ and blamed the government for failing to place higher taxes on sugary foods and drinks.
Already, Britain already has some of the worst obesity levels in Europe, with the third highest average BMI (Body Mass Index) for women and the tenth highest for men. Only Malta and Turkey currently have more obese people. But the new figures show that within the years Britain will have the highest proportion of fat women in Europe followed by Ireland (37 per cent) and Malta (34 per cent) and the most fat men along with Ireland and then Lithuania (36 per cent).
In 1975 the average Briton had a BMI of 23, which is considered a healthy weight. But today that has risen to 27, with the average person now overweight.
The study which was conducted by researchers from Imperial College London pooled analysis from 1698 population-based studies, with more than 19 million participants representing 99 per cent of countries in the world.
According to Professor Majid Ezzati, the senior author of the study from the School of Public Health at Imperial:
“Our research has shown that over 40 years we have transitioned from a world in which underweight prevalence was more than double that of obesity, to one in which more people are obese than underweight.
“Obesity has reached crisis point. We need coordinated global initiatives – such as looking at the price of healthy food compared to unhealthy food, or taxing high sugar and highly processed foods – to tackle this crisis.
“Unless we make healthy food options like fresh fruits and vegetables affordable for everyone, and increase the price of unhealthy processed foods, the situation is unlikely to change.”
It isn’t just Britain that should be wary of being overweight, as there are also overweight concerns in Africa, Asia, South America and every part of the world. Ten types of cancer are linked to excess weight which can also lead to Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and a range of other health problems. Cancer Research UK predicts that obesity related cancer will rise 45 per cent in the next two decades, causing 700,000 new cases of cancer.
Why don’t you eat healthy, exercise and live a healthy lifestyle today?
S.O.Z