Number of obese people in England has almost doubled in 20 years

Number of obese people in England has almost DOUBLED in the last twenty years from 6.9 to 13 million fuelling fears of a £14billion-a-year diabetes crisis for the NHS

• Around 13million people over the age of 16 were considered obese in 2017 
• This is up from the 6.9million recorded back in 1997, Diabetes UK discovered
• Health leaders have today called the rise in obesity rates an ‘urgent problem’ 

Obesity rates in England have doubled in the last 20 years, according to an analysis of Government data.

Around 13million people over the age of 16 were considered obese in 2017 – up from the 6.9million recorded back in 1997.

Health leaders have called the rise an ‘urgent problem’, with obesity known to cause cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

It comes after a report published last week showed the NHS spent £1.075billion on treating type 2 diabetes last year – more than ever.

Separate figures – called ‘startling’ by the head of the NHS – revealed a record-high one million patients were admitted to hospital with obesity-related conditions.

Around 13million people over the age of 16 were considered obese in 2017 – up from the 6.9million recorded back in 1997

Diabetes UK crunched the figures behind the latest report. The data comes from the Health Survey for England, published every year by NHS Digital.

Almost 8,000 people are quizzed about their diet and weight, among other factors, to provide a snapshot of the nation’s health.

The 2017 edition estimated 29 per cent of all adults in England were obese – a BMI of above 30. In total, 64 per cent of adults were said to be overweight.

This is a huge rise from the 18 and 57 per cent of adults considered obese and overweight in England in 1997, respectively.

Diabetes UK did not include 2018 in its report. Last year’s data is scheduled to be published by the NHS early next month.

Britain has one of the highest rates of obesity in western Europe, with rates rising even faster than those in the US.

A third of children leaving primary school are overweight or obese, with UK rates now thought to be twice the level of 1993.

Diabetes UK said the spike in obesity rates is the main driver for the similar jump in cases of type 2 diabetes in the past decade.

Figures estimate around 4.2million people in the UK have the condition, which can cause blindness, limb amputations and even death.

HOW FAT BRITAIN IS TRIGGERING THE RISE IN DIABETES 

Growing numbers of overweight and obese people are contributing to the rise in diabetes.

Some 90 per cent of diabetes cases are type 2, which can be triggered by obesity, eating too much sugar, and not doing enough exercise.

The combination of these factors means the body is taking in high levels of sugar – which is used as energy for muscles – but cannot use it because people don’t move enough. 

When the body has more sugar than it can handle it produces signals which reduce how much of it is absorbed from the blood, which can lead to insulin resistance – a diabetes trigger.

People in the UK are getting fatter than ever – data from October revealed 4.2 per cent of 10 to 11-year-old children are severely obese.

And nearly 200,000 children of the same age are classed as overweight.

Among adults, at least a quarter of them are classed as obese and last year’s figures recorded 62 per cent of adults as overweight, making the UK the fattest nation in Western Europe.

And as the country’s waistline has been rising, so too have cases of diabetes – the number of people officially diagnosed has risen by 36 per cent since 2010 to almost 3.7million. 

More than half of type 2 cases, the reversible type of diabetes, could be prevented, according to estimates.

Diabetes UK has now launched a strategy to tackle the growing obesity epidemic and ‘end the harm’.

The charity wants to push through pioneering treatments, help more people get cured of type 2, and allow patients to ‘live better’.

Chris Askew, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: ‘We’re facing an urgent public health problem.

‘Tackling this requires ambitious and sustained action from national governments, across sectors and departments. That’s because, right now, it’s hard to be healthy.

‘We will keep challenging government and industry to put in place regulations and practices that make healthy choices easier for everyone.’

‘Without action, more people will develop type 2 and gestational diabetes – but… we can change this.’

Food should be banned from public transport to stop people snacking on the go, the Government’s outgoing chief medical officer said in her final report last month.

Dame Sally Davies, nicknamed the nation’s ‘nanny-in-chief’ for her bold public health interventions, wanted the Government to threaten the food industry with ‘cigarette style’ plain packaging for sweets and chocolates if they fail to meet sugar reduction targets.

A tax on added sugar in drinks came into force in April, requiring companies to hand over more of the money they make from drinks which contain more than 5g of sugar per 100ml of liquid. As a result, many soft drinks changed their recipes in order to avoid paying the tax and putting prices up. Sugary drinks are the biggest single source of sugar for children and teenagers.

Dame Sally said the sugar tax programme – already in place for soft drinks – should be extended to cereals, yogurts and cakes if targets are not met by 2021, and applied to calorie-rich foods by 2024.

The Government is also considering making it compulsory for all restaurants and fast food outlets to display the number of calories in each meal on their menu. Some food outlets already do this but there can be unexpected numbers of calories in popular dishes. 

Plans are also being considered to ban advertising junk food on television before 9pm, to reduce the number of children who are exposed to it.

WHAT IS OBESITY? AND WHAT ARE ITS HEALTH RISKS?

Obesity is defined as an adult having a BMI of 30 or over.

A healthy person’s BMI – calculated by dividing weight in kg by height in metres, and the answer by the height again – is between 18.5 and 24.9. 

Among children, obesity is defined as being in the 95th percentile.

Percentiles compare youngsters to others their same age. 

For example, if a three-month-old is in the 40th percentile for weight, that means that 40 per cent of three-month-olds weigh the same or less than that baby.

Around 58 per cent of women and 68 per cent of men in the UK are overweight or obese. 

The condition costs the NHS around £6.1billion, out of its approximate £124.7 billion budget, every year.

This is due to obesity increasing a person’s risk of a number of life-threatening conditions.

Such conditions include type 2 diabetes, which can cause kidney disease, blindness and even limb amputations.

Research suggests that at least one in six hospital beds in the UK are taken up by a diabetes patient.

Obesity also raises the risk of heart disease, which kills 315,000 people every year in the UK – making it the number one cause of death.

Carrying dangerous amounts of weight has also been linked to 12 different cancers. 

This includes breast, which affects one in eight women at some point in their lives.

Among children, research suggests that 70 per cent of obese youngsters have high blood pressure or raised cholesterol, which puts them at risk of heart disease.

Obese children are also significantly more likely to become obese adults. 

And if children are overweight, their obesity in adulthood is often more severe.  

As many as one in five children start school in the UK being overweight or obese, which rises to one in three by the time they turn 10.  

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