Obesity

Risks and Determinants 2: Obesity in the East of England .

Published: October 2004
Authors: Hannah Walford and Marie-Ann Ha

Key messages:

• The national prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly over the past two decades, reaching 22% in men and 23% in women in 2002. Almost 80% of men aged 45 are overweight or obese.
• The national trend in prevalence of obesity is mirrored throughout the East of England.
• Obesity and overweight in children are now common. In the East of England, 22% of boys and 27% of girls aged 2–15 are overweight or obese.
• Obesity is linked to many diseases and conditions, and decreases life expectancy by up to nine years. Type II diabetes is almost 13 times more likely to occur in obese women than in women of normal weight.
• Obesity and its consequences cost the NHS approximately 1 billion per year.
• Many factors, in particular poor diet and physical inactivity, contribute to the onset of obesity.
• The obesity epidemic will not be reversed by targeting any one aspect of lifestyle or the influences on lifestyle. Obesity prevention strategies need to address multiple facets of lifestyle and environment, aiming to effect a shift in the behaviour and culture of the whole of society.
• The Government is beginning to address the problem of obesity and overweight, and has recently set an aspirational target to halt the rise in childhood obesity by 2008.
• Inequalities exist in the distribution of obesity within the population. The prevalence of obesity and overweight is highest in people aged 45 and, in general, the problem is worse in less-affluent sections of the population.