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The UK Government have, as part of the response to the Covid pandemic, started a new initiative to reduce obestiy.  There seems to be some evidence that obesity was a risk factor for Covid patentis, with Covid patients falling into the obese category having worse outcomes than those who were not obese.  As with many of the Covid statistics, this will need to be studied and properly understood but that hasn't stopped government from jumping into things with initiatives to get people slimmer.  Boris Johnson, himself obese and a Covid patient, is apparently crediting hsi experience with converting him and his government to a more 'nanny state' policy.  Proposals include banning adverts for junk food before 9pm (the definition of junk food being food high in fat, sugar and salt) and restricting buy one get one free offers on things like pizzas in supermarkets.  There is a plan to allow doctors to prescribe cycling and give financial help to people to buy and repair bikes.

These measures are all in England but there are similar proposalsfrom the Scottish Government, although the introduction of the legislstion has been delayed.  Along with drinking and smoking obestiy is one of the health challanges that is often talked about in Scotland and a number of measures have been taken to improve the health of Scottish people in relation to booze, fags and fatties.  

Do we have an obestiy problem?  

Is banning adverts for McDonalds and BOGOFs on frozen pizza the answer?

Are you obese and will you be slimming down due to the pandemic?

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This discussion is often framed around an 'obesity epidemic' that is getting worse but in actual fact, obestiy rates have remained pretty steady in Scotland for many years.  \figures for adults are as follows:

Adult Obesity 2017

 

And children at risk of being overweight or obese

Child Obesity 2017

 

 

 

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32 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

Do we have an obesity problem?  

Yes as a country we do if we listen to the statistics.

On a first aid course I went on a few years ago the doctor made a remark to the class that diabetes will bankrupt the NHS. If this is a self inflicted problem then we should be doing a lot more to address it. We shouldn't throw money at the NHS to fix a problem when we should be fixing the root cause which in the long term will save us money. 

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3 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

This discussion is often framed around an 'obesity epidemic' that is getting worse but in actual fact, obestiy rates have remained pretty steady in Scotland for many years.  \figures for adults are as follows:

Adult Obesity 2017

 

And children at risk of being overweight or obese

Child Obesity 2017

 

 

 

What are these rates like compared to other countries?

And what are they like compared to 50's and 60's?

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Guest JTS98
9 minutes ago, ahemps said:

Yes as a country we do if we listen to the statistics.

On a first aid course I went on a few years ago the doctor made a remark to the class that diabetes will bankrupt the NHS. If this is a self inflicted problem then we should be doing a lot more to address it. We shouldn't throw money at the NHS to fix a problem when we should be fixing the root cause which in the long term will save us money. 

I read an article a while back (can't remember where) with a bunch of doctors going through things they'd like the public to know. One of them brought up diabetes and its impact. Said that in the modern world he'd rather be diagnosed with AIDS than type 2 diabetes. Makes you think.

 

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13 minutes ago, ahemps said:

What are these rates like compared to other countries?

And what are they like compared to 50's and 60's?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_rate

I'm sure less people were obese in the 50s and 60s.  From Google, I can find figures of 1-2% of people were obese in the 1950s in England., assume Scotland is similar.

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Just looking around there seems to be more fat kids than there was say 20 years ago and the fatter ones look substantially larger than kids back then. There were always one or two chunky kids at school but I don't recall them being as morbidly obese as some of the heavy children you see today. 

Not the most scientific of posts you'll ever read but that's the way it seems through my eyes. 

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Guest JTS98

A lot of the focus will, rightly, be on diet. However I found this article quite interesting about how difficult modern life can make it for people to move enough to be healthy.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jan/03/why-exercise-alone-wont-save-us

I was lucky in that I was brought up in a home where exercise was normal in terms of jogging, cycling, fitba etc, but also where walking and simple physical exercise was normal. I'll still rarely use a bus to get around a city centre unless it's completely necessary. I have no problem walking an hour to work. I've got time and I enjoy it.

The issue of how to build physical activity into the working day is an interesting one in the age of the office. Interesting to see what, if any, impact working from home has on this.

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There are a myriad reasons why people are more overweight than they were 50 years ago.

Off the top of my head:

1) Parents who are unwilling to let their kids go out to play because the media have told them there are kidnappers on every street corner;
2) The number of single-parent families have driven a demand for smaller houses, of which mostly consist of flats with no garden;
3) The move to a service-based economy which sees people sitting on their backsides for 8 hours a day instead of walking around a factory;
4) The move to hourly / zero-hour contracts which means it is often financially better for a parent to work and get paid for an extra hour and buy their kids a McDonalds than it is to finish work at their required time, go to the shops and buy ingredients and take it home and cook them, due to the opportunity cost;
5) The closure of sports facilities by councils with little money;

I could go on but got distracted midway through number 5 and lost my train of thought. No doubt I'll think of more.

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39 minutes ago, JTS98 said:

A lot of the focus will, rightly, be on diet. However I found this article quite interesting about how difficult modern life can make it for people to move enough to be healthy.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jan/03/why-exercise-alone-wont-save-us

I was lucky in that I was brought up in a home where exercise was normal in terms of jogging, cycling, fitba etc, but also where walking and simple physical exercise was normal. I'll still rarely use a bus to get around a city centre unless it's completely necessary. I have no problem walking an hour to work. I've got time and I enjoy it.

The issue of how to build physical activity into the working day is an interesting one in the age of the office. Interesting to see what, if any, impact working from home has on this.

Office life is dreadful for physical health.

Despite the fact it's sedentary by it's very nature, the amount of shite people eat out of boredom (cake being the highlight of a lot of people's day) encourages it. Add in commuting time and people are left to squeeze 45 minutes at the gym into what's left of their evening, and often decide they can't be arsed to.

 

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49 minutes ago, Dee Man said:

Just looking around there seems to be more fat kids than there was say 20 years ago and the fatter ones look substantially larger than kids back then. There were always one or two chunky kids at school but I don't recall them being as morbidly obese as some of the heavy children you see today. 

Not the most scientific of posts you'll ever read but that's the way it seems through my eyes. 

Good enough for me, similar to my own forensic research results.

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Just now, The Moonster said:

I'd like to see the correlation between those who are obese and whether they live in a deprived area. I'd be willing to bet that the most deprived areas see the worst obesity.  

I'll preface this by saying it's anecdotal evidence, but teaching in a rough area would back this up. This can be for a number of reasons as I've said above. I know several pupils who have McDonalds three or four times a week because it allows their parents to work longer hours and ends up being a net financial benefit. Which, when you're struggling to afford to heat your house, is a no-brainer.

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