What is obesity
A minority medical condition 50 years ago, the prevalence of obesity is now such that it is regarded as a major public health issue and listed as a priority by senior government ministers.
A person is considered obese when their body weight reaches an excessive level. In the UK, clinicians generally use the Body Mass Index (BMI) to measure obesity. BMI is obtained by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by their height in metres squared. A BMI between 18.5 and 25 is considered “normal”. A BMI over 25 is classed as “overweight” and a person is obese once their BMI reaches 30.
According to 2019 Health Survey for England, 64.2% of the adult population were overweight. Of that total, some 28% of adults in England were obese (up from 15% in 1993), with the other 36.2% classified as being simply overweight.
According to 2019 Healthy Survey, 64.2% of the UK population is now said to be obese or overweight.
An international study by the OECD back in 2016, compared rates of obesity across a range of nations.
In the UK, obesity rates were 26%, compared to 40% in the United States, 34% in Chile, 32% in New Zealand, 29% in Turkey, 28% in Australia, 24% in Germany, 23% in Ireland, 6% in South Korea, and 4% in Japan.
Obesity as a public health issue does not seek to make aesthetic judgements about people carrying extra body fat. Obesity is linked to a reduced lifespan and the prevalence of a number of illnesses. The government is keen to reduce obesity levels among the population.
Background
Obesity is a relatively modern phenomenon. Where governments were once concerned with inadequate nutrition and underweight children, politicians now launch initiatives against childhood obesity and encourage voters to slim down.
With obesity levels having tripled since the 1980s, a quarter of adults in England are classified as obese. Obesity among children has increased to unprecedented levels. The 2008 Health Survey for England estimated that on current trends, by 2050, 60% of men and 50% of women would be obese.
Being overweight used to be seen as a personal medical complaint, largely blamed on genetics or constitution. However, the rising prevalence of obesity has forced health professionals and politicians to consider the lifestyle factors contributing to expanding waistlines.
It is now generally accepted that an imbalance between energy consumed in the form of calories, and energy used, causes weight gain or loss. This means sedentary lifestyles combined with the easy availability of calorie rich foods lead a population towards obesity.
Recent surveys found that just a third of men and a quarter of women claimed to achieve the recommended 30 minutes of exercise five times a week. Half of those not taking part claimed their health was not good enough to exercise and nearly one in five said they did not have time. Working patterns have seen Britons shift to office-based jobs and longer working hours at the same time as rising obesity levels.
The prevalence of fast food chains and cheap, nutritionally poor food has led many to blame diet for rising obesity and many health campaigns focus on the importance of low-fat or low-calorie food choices. Although this is a common sense approach, it should be noted that total energy intake fell by 20 per cent between 1974 and 2004, precisely those years when obesity soared.
Politicians are concerned by obesity because of the effect it appears to have on a person’s general health – and the resultant pressure of this on health services.
Obesity has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Excessive weight has been blamed for 9,000 premature deaths a year in England and calculated to reduce life expectancy by an average of nine years. According to the Department of Health, direct costs caused by obesity are estimated to be £4.2 billion per year and forecast to more than double by 2050 “if we carry on as we are”.
In January 2008 the Government published ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A cross-government strategy for England’, described as “the first step in a sustained programme to combat obesity and support people to maintain a healthy weight”. A sum of £372 million over three years was committed to implement the strategy which focused on five key areas: –
The healthy growth and development of children; promoting healthier food choices; building physical activity into our lives; creating incentives for better health; and personalised advice and support.
A follow-up report published in March 2010 showed that although “good progress” had been made, there was still “more to do.” Child obesity in the under-11s was levelling off but prevalence remained high and adult and teenage levels were still too high.
The 2008 initiative was followed by two further campaigns. In January 2010, ‘Start4Life’ was launched with the aim of helping frontline staff deliver the Healthy Child Programme, supporting pregnant women and the parents of 0-2 year olds in establishing good feeding and activity habits for babies, to help reduce the risk of obesity in later life.
This was followed in February 2010 by the ‘Change4Life’ campaign for adults, which focused on the 45-65 age group and provided guidance and support on how to achieve a healthy weight and prevent the onset of weight-related illness.
In 2020, the government published a policy paper entitled ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’. The paper noted how children in the most deprived parts of the country are more than twice as likely to be obese as their peers living in the richest areas, something which was sowing the seeds of adult diseases and health inequalities in early childhood.
The paper noted how being overweight or living with obesity put someone at risk of dying from COVID-19, and this was one of the few modifiable factors in relation to an individual’s risk from the pandemic.
In June 2021, the government announced plans to introduce a ban on TV adverts relating to food that was high in sugar, salt and fat. As such adverts for chocolate, burgers, soft drinks, cakes, sweets, ice cream, biscuits, sweetened juices, crisps, chips and pizzas will only be able to be screened between 9pm and 5.30am.
The government also plans to introduce tighter rules on the online paid promotion of food high in sugar and fat, albeit it stopped short of a total ban on an online presence for these firms.
Controversy
The government has unapologetically defined obesity as a symptom of ill health which should be eradicated. For others, attempting to manipulate the weight of individuals leaves the government vulnerable to accusations of “nanny statism”.
The UK is yet to see the rise of a significant ‘fat positive’ movement. In the US a minority of obese people have hit out at attempts to medicalise and stigmatise their size and argue societies should accept people of all weights.
While most people accept that extreme fatness is not desirable, many are more resistant towards government attempts to enforce healthy lifestyles. At the extreme end this has seen parents feed burgers to their children through school gates after the government enforced new healthier school meals.
The public may resent government attempts to encourage healthy eating but the government has in turn been criticised for failing to promote or enable healthy lifestyles. Many point out that it is inconsistent for ministers to lecture school children about healthy lunch choices while allowing the sale of school playing fields. Infrastructure such as cycle lanes is also poor in the UK compared to other European nations and many claim that private gyms remain prohibitively expensive.
A correlation can be observed between socio-economic status and obesity, although at least one recent study has found this is less pronounced among children. This has led many to interpret obesity as a symptom of health inequality. Although many commentators do note factors such as the price of gym membership, much of the blame for higher levels of obesity among poor people is placed on dietary choices.
Politicians and chefs are just some of those debating whether it really is cheaper to eat badly. In a bid to counter the assumption that junk food is more cost effective, ministers have been asked to consider the option of ‘fat taxes’ whereby a charge is levied against high fat, high salt or high sugar foods. This suggestion, including the sugar tax, is seen to be unpopular with the public.
Despite the acceptance that too many calories and not enough activity will cause weight gain, scientists are still searching for a ‘fat gene’. The diet industry has proved highly inefficient in the long-term, with most dieters either struggling to lose weight or putting it back on when lost. Nevertheless the government is determined the rising prevalence of obesity can be reversed.
How obesity is measured has also been criticised, with the BMI dismissed by some as an imperfect science. The BMI fails to distinguish between body fat and lean muscle, meaning professional athletes can emerge as overweight or even obese. Moreover, it fails to look at where fat is distributed on the body. It is now recognised that excess fat around the abdomen is a greater health risk than fat on the buttocks or thighs. For this reason, the World Health Organisation now recommends people measure their waists. A circumference over 37 inches (94 cm) on a man or 32 inches (80 cm) on a woman indicates a health risk.
Some have also questioned the assumption that excessive weight is a health risk. Obesity does broadly correlate to increased rates of a range of illnesses including diabetes and a number of cancers. A review of 7,000 studies by the World Cancer Research Fund found a third of cancers are attributable to diet and found at least six cancers for which obesity was a major risk factor.
However, it has been pointed out that these could also be caused by the lifestyle typically enjoyed by obese people, rather than the excess fat per se. It is, some argue, possible to be overweight and healthy.
The government proposed ban on the advertising of fatty foods has also met controversy. Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, welcomed the move as a ‘bold and very positive step’ designed ‘to make the healthy option the easy option’. However the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has suggested that watershed ban on high-fat, sugar and salt food and drinks would only remove around 1.7 calories per day from a child’s diet. This is said to be the equivalent to half a Smartie.
Statistics
9.9% of reception age children (age 4-5) are obese, with a further 13.1% overweight. At age 10-11 (year 6), 21.0% are obese and 14.1% overweight. [Source – National Child Measurement Programme].
Men are more likely than women to be overweight or obese (68.2% of men compared with 60.4% of
women). [Source – The Health Survey for England, 2019]
Obesity varies by income demographics. 67% of those in the most deprived tenth of the population were classified as obese or overweight, compared to 58% in the least deprived tenth of the population.
[Source: Sport England, Active Lives Survey, 2018/2019].
Obesity also varies with ethnic origin. 74% of those with black ethnicity were classified as obese or overweight, compared to 63% of those with White British ethnicity, 58% of those classified as White (Other) ethnicity, and 35% with Chinese ethnicity. [Source: Sport England, Active Lives Survey, 2018/2019].
Obesity also varied by location. In Bath and North East Somerset just 51.1% of people were obese and overweight, and in Brighton and Hove it was 50.5%. In contrast the figures were 75.9% in Thurrock and 75.7% in Hartlepool. [Source: Sport England, Active Lives Survey, 2018/2019].
Being obese or overweight brings significant risks at a range of different points throughout life. The health risks for adults are stark. We know that, compared with a healthy weight man, an obese man is:
* five times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes
* three times more likely to develop cancer of the colon
* more than two and a half times more likely to develop high blood pressure – a major risk factor for stroke and heart disease
An obese woman, compared with a healthy weight woman, is:
* almost 13 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes
* more than four times more likely to develop high blood pressure
* more than three times more likely to have a heart attack
[Source: Department of Health]
