Shropshire obesity problem keeps on growing
It is a sad fact that has become the UK's modern problem – we are riddled with obesity from the cradle to the grave.
Two new reports out this week illustrate our growing problem with eating.
One points to the large number of young children who are already showing signs of obesity.
And the other, the problem of obesity in death – and of trying to find mortuary space big enough.
There was once a time when we Brits would look to the United States as the fat capital of the world.
But portion sizes here have grown and our obsession with fast food and easy-to-eat TV dinners has expanded to match.
Figures released today reveal that around one in 10 children in Shropshire are classed as obese by the age of five. Eight per cent are said to be overweight when they enter reception class – and that shoots up to one in five (19 per cent) by the time they reach the age of 10 in Year 6.
The statistics have been revealed in a report set to go before Shropshire Council's young people's scrutiny committee this week.
The watchdog group has set up a taskforce, chaired by Councillor Joyce Barrow, to tackle childhood obesity in light of the figures.
The report set to go before the committee says: "Nationally, obesity is occurring at a younger age and this is reflected locally.
"More than eight per cent of Shropshire children are obese by the time they enter reception class at school, rising to over 19 per cent by the time they reach Year 6 at 10 or 11 years old.
"Obesity can have a detrimental effect on the physical health and psychological well-being of children and young people. It puts children at greater risk of developing diseases such as cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease and can often lead to teasing and discrimination by peers, low self-esteem, anxiety and depression."
Earlier this year it was revealed that more than two thirds of adults in Telford & Wrekin are overweight.
More than 70 per cent of adults in the town are overweight or obese according to the statistics released by Public Health England – above the national average of 65 per cent.
It listed Telford as the 34th highest local authority in the country out of more than 300.
The Shropshire local authority area is below the English average, with 62 per cent of adults living in the area classed as overweight or obese.
The young people's scrutiny meeting takes place tomorrow from 10am at Shirehall.
It will be tasked with coming up with an idea of how to tackle the problem.
It is not an easy task. Like drinking and smoking, over-eating is now a social phenomenon that has become deep rooted. Health problems associated with being overweight or obese is said to cost the NHS over £5 billion each year.
The UK has higher levels of obesity and overweight people than anywhere in western Europe except for Iceland and Malta, according to an authoritative global study that raises fresh concerns about the likely health consequences.
In the UK, 67 per cent of men and 57 per cent of women are either overweight or obese, according to the Global Burden of Disease study, published in the Lancet medical journal.
The study, which uses data from 1980 to 2013, found that the number of overweight and obese people in the world had surged in the past three decades. About 2.1 billion people – nearly 30 per cent of the population of the planet – are overweight or obese, raising the risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancers. Although the rise in obesity rates seems to be slowing in some countries, it has yet to be reversed in any.
"Obesity is an issue affecting people of all ages and incomes, everywhere," said Dr Christopher Murray, director of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle and a co-founder of the Global Burden of Disease study.
In western Europe, the UK lags behind only Iceland, with 74 per cent of men and 61 per cent of women overweight or obese, and Malta, on 74 per cent and 58 per cent respectively.
Obesity alone – defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, while overweight is BMI of over 25 – increased by 10 per cent in the UK over the past three decades, the study finds. There was a slight drop in the number of obese people between 1980 and 1986, before it began to rise steadily.
About a quarter of the UK population is now obese. The peak age for children is between ages five and nine, when about 10 per cent are obese. Among adults, it is at 60-64, when a third of men and women are obese.
Death rates linked to obesity are on the rise. And, even in death, it creates a problem.
Britain's obesity crisis is so serious that hospitals are buying specialist equipment to keep bodies cool because they are too large to fit into mortuary fridges.
Hospitals are also having to widen corridors, buy reinforced beds and lifting equipment in order to cope with the growing numbers of obese patients coming though their doors.
New figures show that hospitals in the Black Country, have spent at least £5.5 million over the past three years to adapt allow them to treat larger patients.
Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust spent £13,000 back in 2008 on adjustments to its mortuary to accommodate larger bodies including a new hoist.
Sit up and listen its time to change your ways:
It is in everyone's interest to tackle the problem of under-activity and over-eating – not least the person affected.
New research released today reveals the long list of health dangers associated with sitting around too much.
The British love nothing better than relaxing on a couch watching TV, especially if they have a few nibbles at hand.
The TV comedy Royle Family was a pastiche of that way of life, with Jim Royle at centre-stage in his favourite chair.
But a sedentary lifestyle has the potential to cost you your life – and to cost the NHS tens of millions of pounds each year in treatment costs.
Today's report says that a couch potato lifestyle is linked to a significantly greater risk of certain cancers as well as heart disease and diabetes.
Research shows that very extra two hours spent sitting each day was associated with a 10 per cent increased chance of developing cancer of the womb lining in women, while bowel and lung cancer risk was raised by eight per cent and six per cent respectively.
The effect appeared to be unrelated to how much exercise people took when not sitting.
This suggests that even in people who are generally physically active, sitting down for too long can increase cancer risk.
Scientists came to the conclusion after studying pooled data from 43 studies with more than four million participants and almost 70,000 cancer cases.
This kind of research, known as "meta-analysis", can uncover trends that might be hidden from individual studies recruiting small numbers of people.
All the studies analysed involved questionnaires and interviews probing lifestyle habits related to activity such as TV viewing time, sitting time at home and at work, and total sitting time.
Comparing the highest and lowest levels of sedentary behaviour revealed a statistically significant increased risk for three specific cancers – bowel, endometrial (womb lining) and lung – associated with sitting.
Study authors Daniela Schmid and Dr Michael Leitzmann, from the University of Regensburg in Germany, wrote in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute: "That sedentariness has a detrimental impact on cancer even among physically active persons implies that limiting the time spent sedentary may play an important role in preventing cancer."
TV viewing time was most strongly associated with bowel and endometrial cancers – possibly because watching TV is often accompanied by eating junk food and drinking sweetened beverages, said the researchers.
The scientists pointed out that the link between sitting time and lung cancer was only marginally statistically significant.
In the studies analysed, the least amount of time people spent sitting down was about two or three hours.
Each two hours per day increase in sitting time above this level was said to increase the risk of bowel, endometrial and lung cancer.
No association was seen between sedentary behaviour and the risk of breast, ovarian, prostate, stomach, oesophageal (gullet), testicular, kidney and rectal cancers.
