Half of Europeans are Overweight

[AB Editor]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11935525

///The rate of obesity has more than doubled over the past 20 years in most EU member states, international experts say.

The UK comes out worst, shortly followed by Ireland and Malta, where a quarter of the population is obese.///

Does anyone here agree with the "fat tax" concept as a way of dealing with this problem? If not, what other options would you suggest?

[ludwig]

// Education is the answer, mainly education of parents not to start their "little darlings" off eating crap all the time. //

// How do you educate parents? They tend to be quite resilient to suggestions that they might not actually know what is best for their children //

Easy Ed - like this 'Here is today's maths lesson. Observe this pile of junk food - it costs £10 including a £5 fat tax*, whereas this equivalent pile of healthy food costs £5 because there's no tax on it. That means it costs half as much'

(*to go towards NHS costs related to the treatment of obesity related illnesses)

[ChuckFickens]

If you tried to put a tax on junk food it would probably be kicked out due to some sort of problem with unfair competition.

I agree that parents are not easy to educate and do tend to ignore what is best for little Timmy as he might complain and not like it! (I was brought up with the principle if I didn't like the fresh food put on my plate I did have a choice, eat it or go hungry)

Thinking about it, it's actually the grand parents of a lot of the modern youngsters that should have educated the current generation of parents better so they had a better idea of what is good food and what is rubbish and how to provide a well rounded diet.

(still. this doesn't effect me and my 32" waist :))

[R1Geezer]

They are still basing this on the totally discredited BMI taking no account of body composition. I question the figures when the England rugby team are classed as obese or clinically obese, something is wrong. I'd like to see the body fat figures that's the one that matters. Yes we are getting fatter but it isn't as bad as they say.

[sp1814]

R1Geezer

BMI is the correct way to go because very few people are actually rugby players.

[rojash]

I can't work out where you get the figure "Half of Europeans are overweight"?
A quarter of Brits are overweight, and all the other countries come out lower, so how does that add up to half?

[naomi24]

I always wonder why grossly overweight women and girls make the effort to wear perfect make-up and have expensive hairstyles when they don't seem to care what their bodies look like. I'm convinced they don't own full-length mirrors. They just look at their heads and ignore the rest. Maybe it's a denial thing.

I like Ludwig's idea of tax-free healthy food - but whether it would work I have no idea. I strongly suspect people are not only too lazy to cook properly, they also like the taste of junk.

[jake-the-peg]

This data is flawed!!!

Note the footnote to the data. The 4 that were based on actual examinations rather than interviews come out higher than average.

But I certainly think there are other better pieces of work that suggest similar results and the absoluteresults are probably about right - just that the rest of Europe is not that much better than us!

I wouldn't be worried too much about the number that are just "overweight" but the number that are obese is a concern.

Particularly ironic to look at this data when people were making jokes about "fat Germans" earlier in the week.

[flip_flop]

I've got to agree with Geezer sp. I'm five foot eleven and weigh 13st - my BMI is 25.42, which in English is overweight (albeit only by 0.42).

My 'ideal' weight is between about 10 and 11.5 stone - if i managed to get down to 11.5 I'd look sick!

I don't see why there can't be a fat tax - the taxes on booze and fags may not stop people drinking and smoking, but the revenue produced does help to pay for the NHS - in fact, I seem to recall reading somewhere that the revenue raised from smokers is greater than it costs to treat smoking related diseases.

Obesity related diseases are just as self-inflicted as smoking and drinking related diseases, but for some bizarre reason fat people are considered victims - fat people, as a rule, are lazy overeaters (yes I know some people have medical problems which make them fat, but most do not), and therefore whilst slapping a tax on KFC/Greggs/McShite etc... won't solve the obesity issue, at least the reveune raised will go on to help pay for obesity related diseases.

[joggerjayne]

I agree with flip_flop on one point ...

The "ideal weights" for men are ludicrously low.

[ludwig]

// I strongly suspect people are not only too lazy to cook properly, they also like the taste of junk //

I'm sure that's true Naomi, but a tax on unhealthy stuff provides an incentive to explore healthier options, and failing that at least it'll put extra revenue towards dealing with the illnesses it creates. It's no different to the high taxes on cigarettes.

It also avoids penalising people who have weight problems despite eating sensibly because of other underlying health problems.

[joggerjayne]

"It avoids penalising people who have weight problems despite eating sensibly because of other underlying health problems."

That is a really good point.

[tigerlelly]

I often wonder whether the rise in obesity has anything to do with the introduction of 'growth hormones' into the meat food chain. I was a vegetarian for many years and had no problems with my weight until I started to eat meat again. USA introduced these hormones before we did and their huge rise in obesity started before ours.

[rojash]

"I often wonder whether the rise in obesity has anything to do with the introduction of 'growth hormones' into the meat food chain"

I think it might have more to do with the way food is marketed. Take a look at this comparison of portion sizes, now and 20 years ago:

http://www.divinecaro...2-portion-size-vs-now

[cazzz1975]

I agree with ludwig, an excellent idea