English are among fattest in Europe
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Your support makes all the difference.THE EPIDEMIC of obesity sweeping Europe is threatening a public health catastrophe with dramatic increases in diabetes, heart and other diseases, international experts warned yesterday.
England comes near the top of the European league of fattest nations with 17 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women officially classified as obese. Only Germany and Finland have more fat men and only Russia and the Czech Republic have more fat women.
In a declaration signed by medical experts from 26 countries, the European Association for the Study of Obesity called on governments to tackle what it dubbed the "silent epidemic".
It says rates of obesity are rising in most countries and in some areas 40-50 per cent of the population are affected. No country has escaped but few have a national strategy for dealing with it.
The greatest concern is over the proportion of children who are overweight. Experts meeting at the European Congress of Obesity in Milan said in their Milan Declaration: "Their future health and well being is being put at risk through inaction on this issue."
In England, obesity rates have risen two-and-a-half times for women and almost tripled for men in two decades.
Since 1980, they have risen from eight to 20 per cent of women and from six to 17 per cent of men. Other countries have experienced similar rises as a result of increasingly sedentary lifestyles and a richer diet linked with growing prosperity.
Professor Jaap Seidell, president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, said: "There are signs that a larger proportion of the next generation are becoming obese and overweight at an earlier age. While a great deal has been achieved in reducing levels of heart disease those gains could be wiped out by this threat."
Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force and architect of the Food Standards Agency in the UK, said: "We need governments to sit up and listen. In some countries they are listening - many other countries have yet to take up the challenge. This is a global crisis and urgent action is required now to prevent this silent epidemic of serious illness and spiralling health costs. We are facing a health disaster if we do not act."
Overall, almost one third of people living in the European Union are overweight and one in 10 is obese.
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