Obesity puts as much strain on NHS in Scotland as smoking, says survey

One in five Scottish adults is officially classed as obese, an incidence that is putting as much strain on the health service in Scotland as smoking, a survey revealed yesterday.

Scientists at Glasgow University found that an estimated 60 per cent of adults were overweight and almost 21 per cent - 850,000 people - were obese, endangering their health.

With secondary illnesses triggered by obesity, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, angina, arthritis, breathing problems, heart disease, high cholesterol and some cancers, the problem is costing the NHS in Scotland £171m a year - almost three times as much per capita as in England. There are already predictions that the death toll from obesity will exceed that from smoking in the next 10 to 15 years.

The study, by Dr Andrew Walker, of the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics at the University of Glasgow, was based on an earlier study from the National Audit Office on obesity in England. "The treatment of obesity itself accounts for a tiny percentage of the overall cost of the disease," Dr Walker said. "It is estimated that 373,484 Scots have a secondary disease, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, angina or certain cancers, which can be attributable to obesity. It is only when the cost of treating and caring for these diseases is examined that the real cost of obesity to the Scottish NHS becomes clear. Overall the strongest conclusion is that obesity is a disease with important cost consequences that are comparable to recognised threats to health such as smoking."

Yesterday the British Medical Association rejected the idea of a new tax on fat to help tackle the obesity problem. In the UK, one in five adults is obese and one in five children is considered overweight. In England alone 30,000 people die every year as a direct result of obesity. Estimates indicate that by 2040 half the British population could be obese if present trends of bad diet and sedentary lifestyles continue.

The idea of "VAT on fat" was proposed by the St Helens and Knowsley local medical committee to help to cover the cost of treating obesity and to help change people's behaviour. But Sir Alexander Macara, chairman of the BMA's public health consultative committee, said that to put a tax on any food would hit the poorest and most vulnerable people in society.

In Scotland, where bad diet and heavy smoking are closely associated with poverty, yesterday's report was welcomed as the first accurate picture of the scale of the problem.

Professor Iain Broom, consultant in clinical biochemistry and metabolic medicine at Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "For real far-reaching improvements in the nation's health, obesity needs to be addressed not as a lifestyle issue, but as a serious, complex and costly medical condition, requiring a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach in order to manage it."

Experts suggest that patients losing as little as 10 per cent of their weight can gain significant health benefits such as a fall in blood pressure and a lower risk of heart disease.

Nation's weighty problem

Forty per cent of men in Scotland are overweight and a further 16 per cent are obese. That compares with 30 per cent and 17 per cent for women.

Health risks associated with their weight cost an extra 18 million sick days and lead to early death for up to 30,000 a year. Such parents are more likely to have overweight children, who account for about 20 per cent of children in Scotland.

Children in one-parent and small families are more likely to be overweight and about 30 per cent of obese children are obese as adults.