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By Alex Vass
Most adults in England are
overweight, and one in five, around 8 million in total, is obese, says
a government report. If the current trend continues, by 2005 a quarter
of women and a fifth of men could be obese.
Currently 30,000
deaths a year are linked to obesity. The cost to the NHS is
estimated at £500m ($700m; €800) a year.
The report, by the parliamentary
public accounts committee, says people responsible for health care, education,
transport, sport, and recreation and for the labeling and marketing of
food should work together on an "integrated approach." A focus
on helping people to avoid becoming overweight and then obese-as much
as on helping people who are already obese-is needed, the report recommends.
The report found that most
general practices promoted healthy eating and physical activity through
general information. However, few sought to identify patients at risk
of obesity.
It adds that GPs have been
"hampered by the lack of evidence-based evaluation and guidance on
the range of interventions they might use, ranging from diets, drug therapy,
surgery, and innovations such as exercise on prescription."
According to the committee
the increase
in obesity reflects changes in lifestyle, the increasing mechanization
of modern life, people being more sedentary, and a diet richer in energy
dense foods.
The prevalence in England
is lower than that in Germany and the United States, but there has been
a big increase that parallels the trend in the United States.
Public health minister Yvette
Cooper said: "There are clear links between obesity and our biggest
killers, heart disease and cancer. The NHS Plan, the national cancer plan,
and the national service framework for coronary heart disease include
action to address obesity, diet and nutrition, and physical activity.
Work on guidance on prevention and management of obesity at a local level
is already under way."
The report, Tackling Obesity
in England, is available here.
British Medical Journal
2002;324:192 January 26, 2002
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