Key Facts

• In 2016/17, there were 617 thousand admissions in NHS hospitals where obesity was a factor1. This is an increase of 18 per cent on 2015/16.
• In 2016, 26 per cent of adults were classified as obese. This has increased from 15 per cent in 1993 but has remained at a similar level since 2010.
• In 2016, 26 per cent of adults and 16 per cent of children consumed 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
• In 2016/17, 1 in 5 children in Year 6 and 1 in 10 children in Reception were classified as obese.

digital.nhs.uk

Brand new global report....bbc.co.uk

A WHO report estimates that more than a quarter of people worldwide - 1.4 billion - are not doing enough physical exercise, a figure that has barely improved since 2001.

Inactivity raises the risk of a raft of health problems, such as heart disease, type-2 diabetes and some cancers.

High-income countries, including the UK, were among the least active.

And women were found to be more sedentary throughout the world, with the exception of two regions of Asia...

Researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) looked at self-reported data on activity from 358 population-based surveys in 168 countries, including 1.9 million people, for their study in The Lancet Global Health.

They found in high-income countries, which include the UK and the USA, the proportion of inactive people had risen from 32% in 2001 to 37% in 2016, while in low-income countries it had remained stable at 16%.

Those who were classed as inactive did less than 150 minutes of moderate exercise - or 75 minutes at a vigorous intensity - a week.

Countries driving the upwards trend included Germany, New Zealand and the US...In the UK, inactivity levels in 2016 were 36% overall - 32% of men and 40% of women....

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Today (12 Oct 2018) independent.co.uk In England, a third of children leave primary school overweight or obese – with some children consuming 500 more calories per day than is recommended. Work work work consume consume consume accumulate accumulate accumulate...

theguardian.com

Unhealthy diets are responsible for 11m preventable deaths globally per year, more even than smoking tobacco, according to a major study.

But the biggest problem is not the junk we eat but the nutritious food we don’t eat, say researchers, calling for a global shift in policy to promote vegetables, fruit, nuts and legumes.

While sugar and trans-fats are harmful, more deaths are caused by the absence of healthy foods in our diet, the study found.

The research is part of the Global Burden of Disease study by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle, published in the Lancet medical journal.

Obesity cancer risk warning

About a third of UK adults are obese. And now the charity Cancer Research UK is warning that cases of four of the most common forms of cancer - bowel, kidney, ovarian and liver - are more likely to be caused by being overweight than smoking.

It has launched a billboard campaign, in which it shows mocked-up cigarette packets displaying the message "Obesity is a cause of cancer too". But the charity has been criticised for fat-shaming.

from BBC news

Just generally ranting at capitalist lifestyle...

Four in five teenagers in the UK do not do enough physical activity with experts warning that an “electronic revolution” has left too many children glued to their gadgets.

The stats from the World Health Organisation, which are the first global estimates on physical activity among adolescents, suggest that “couch potato” lifestyles have become the norm.Advertisement

Girls are less active than boys in 142 of the 146 countries studied, including the UK, where 75% of boys and 85% of girls do not do enough exercise.

The figures, published in Lancet Adolescent and Child Health, found that in 2016, more than 80% of school-going adolescents aged 11–17 years did not meet current recommendations for daily physical activity, compromising their current and future health.

Nearly HALF of all Americans will be obese by 2030 - and the epidemic will cost the US billions of dollars, study warns

• Researchers predict half of US adults will be obese and one-quarter will be severely obese by 2030
• They also predict that more than half the population will be obese in 29 states and all 50 states will have an obesity prevalence higher than 35%
• *Severe obesity is predicted to be most common among women, non-Hispanic black adults, and people making $50,000 a year or less*Currently, 40 percent of American adults are obese and 18 percent are considered severely obese. dailymail.co.uk

Personally I am vegan, I had issues with blood pressure and thought it might help. I am not saying vegan is necessary for all, bt it can be done very cheap. Throw in the odd tin of sardines and most issues are resolved if you dont want to think about it much. Personally I eat a lot of bread/muesli/potatoes/bananas/apples/pasta/lentils/peas/almond milk/soya products. It's cheap enough. I am not militantly anti eating animals, but as I understand, most people eat too much animal sourced food. Debateable.

We are probably wandering away from the big picture of proletarian health under capitalism, but seeing as you asked... to make up the calorific bulk, starches (bread, potato, pasta, rice) and healthy fat sources like nuts, advocado, seeds (also protein bearing). I dont really measure much, its by eye, try to eat four meals a day, I get weighed at the weekend to see if I need to eat more or less.

I dont mind the conversation, I am not a expert on the matter but I think I have a good knowledge.

We're on topic, just taking it into a more concrete, positive direction. First, do you agree that the minimum daily recommended calories is 2,000?

I would guess it is possibly a little high for smaller females and a little low for larger males, but in general, global population terms, not a bad startpoint. But anyone involved in serious athletic endeavours or hard manual labour is going to need more to maintain weight.

Second, do you think it's possible to reach by healthy food alone?

I have to smile at this, I can eat a lot more and its all vegan. I think I am an outlier. For example, yesterday and today I ran 10k both days. I have a long history of martial arts, powerlifting, boxing and other endeavours. I currently weigh 82kg at 170cm, I was around this weight at university in my twenties. I have been considerably heavier (doing powerlifting competition, but I was not in horrific shape, a lot of muscle along with the blubber)

I actually doubt even with two meals a day consisting of reasonable portions of starches (say eg 150 grams bread + 150 grams rice) would attain the figure. You would need eat double those portions, which is fine, but it's a lot of eating. Is that why you spread it over 4 meals a day?

If I let my appetite dictate I would eat a lot more! 4 meals a day to me feels like restriction. I guess I am hitting around 3k calories and maintaining weight.

I think what is emerging is how complex this is. Its not just a question of diet, but of lifestyle, and the problem is we are products of evolution, tuned to surviving in what was often a harsh environment, and the modern conditions and lifestyle imposed on the masses by capitalism in no way matches the requirements of the body.

You can easily boost the calories by eating fat bearing foods. Regardless of income, vegan, omnivore, whatever, consume peanuts if price is a factor, other nuts if you are not so financially restricted. You will find foods like muesli and granola are surprisingly calorific. A bar of dark chocolate is healthy enough.

To be honest, it sounds like you have issues with food, you say price is not the issue, being dangerously underweight whern you can get food sounds to me like an eating disorder. Have you checked your BMI? it's a good guide for most who are not excessively muscular. nhs.uk

Illness, obesity, racism; who gets blamed for our crises? The poor of course msn.com

I read a related article on US poverty. The pre -covid figures - Some 40 million live under the official poverty line, 11% of white children, 33% of black children, 26% of latino children. Despite being the richest nation, the provision for the "poor" is so weak as the dominant narrative blames the victim, and obviously there is a racist element involved.

I posted this to some local comrades, but maybe others will critique...We reject all variants of capitalism. That some variants of capitalism offer this or that social protection to the working class does not alter that judgement. Capitalism is always a matter of give and take. The worker gives labour and takes less than its value in wages, including the social wage by which is meant protections and services provided by the state, paid for by taxation of wages. The rate of exploitation may vary between individual workers and in different localities but the fact remains that the working class as a whole is exploited. Health care, no matter how it is provided, be it through state schemes funding free at the point of use provision or private health insurance remains part of the capitalist framework and no method of providing health cover is "ours". We, as in the great majority, have no control over these institutions just as our democratic power in general is limited to choices which perpetuate the rule of capital.Socialised health care which we could genuinely call ours will only arise with the general abolition of capitalism and the general socialisation of the means of production. As such, slogans which revolve around the defense of state provision of health care need to be rejected. However, this is not enough, they need to be challenged by a communist perspective which promotes socialisation of the productive forces as the only sustainable solution.

Third of people now have serious health problems by 40s - see list of most common issues
_Third of people now have serious health problems by 40s - see list of most common issues (msn.com)

More than a third of adults have multiple health problems by the time they get to their 40s and things are only 'getting worse', worrying research suggests.

A new study found that 34 per cent of people aged 46 to 48 have two or more long-term health conditions.

People from poorer backgrounds were more likely to face health troubles, it was also revealed.

Of the issues, at least one relates to a person's physical health by the time they reach middle age.

High-risk drinking is one of the most damaging, with 26 per cent feeling the effects.

Other problems include chronic back problems, mental ill-health, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and diabetes.

I agree, the health crisis is right up there with war and climate change, yet think there is reticence amongst some who consider themselves revolutionary to make this conclusion, especially when we are looking at lifestyle issues in the advanced metropoles rather than, say, starvation in the poorest areas. But both are conditioned by capitalism. We will spend a great deal of time considering low wages, unemployment, poverty, but arguably being, say, diabetic through obesity is a worse condition. It is all interwoven, all part of the same degradation.

Europe's obesity problem is growing after more and more people were forced to work from home, stay away from doctors appointments or miss appointments during the height of Covid lockdowns. Obesity affects nearly 1 in 5 adults in Europe.

And a recent poll from Public Health England found that 40 percent of adults said they had put on weight during the height of lockdown - with an average weight gain of half a stone (just over three kilos.)

Around two-thirds (63 percent) of adults are above a healthy weight, and of these half are living with obesity...In England 1 in 3 children leaving primary school are overweight or living with obesity with 1 in 5 living with obesity

Figures from NHS Digital show obesity rates among 4 to 5-year-olds rose to 14.4 percent in 2020-21 from 9.9 percent in 2019-20.

And children aged between 10 and 11, obesity increased from 21 percent to 25.5 percent over the same time period....Daily Express 28 jan 2022

My first thought is that here we have another instance of essential science (human nutrition and arising health issues from malnutrition) that is under the pressure of financial interests and therefore at best we get an opaque perspective which leaves many either guessing or simply uncaring. Somewhat akin to the environmentlai issue where any debate on the matter beyond the like-minded inevitably brings up the iidea that scientists are scamming, that there is no issue, it is just the weather etc... In this case, the fianacial pressure is applied by agricultural and fishing business, and in fact spans the two issues - human nutrition and the environment. Personally I have been sufficiently persuaded by the arguments, both from a personal health and a wider social concern, to take the vegan route. I tend towards overweight and in recent years I have had blood pressure issues. According to at least one source, Dr John McDougall, hypertension is generally akin to a plumbing problem. The pipes are getting blocked leading to greater pressure. So rather than medicate and ignore the cause, he advocates unblocking the system - eliminate the saturated fat which leads to the blocked arteries. Which probably answers your question IF McDougall is right, that there is a dietary cause of arterial blockage, then you are running a heightened risk with your high butter diet. There are no absolutes here, some claim that animal fat is not the cause, studies seem to produce contradiction, but I have watched several documentaries and done internet research (so that is all I offer - what I have read and decided) and think that the evidence supports McDougall and those who argue the same case. I think this is the standard NHS line as well. Now, on a more personal level, if I were you, and UNDERWEIGHT was my issue I think I would address it. I would do some weight training (even half an hour once a week of basic moves like squats, deadlifts, overhead press would be a good step) I would indeed eat more fat but I would avoid saturated fat (like butter) and up my protein. Again, I think that we are not going to get clarity on this issue as it involves entrenched and massive financial issues until we get a science not skewed by profiteering. But what we are getting is lives blighted and cut short by malnutrition, be it obesity poor quality food or outright lack of food as the costs soar.

The version of vegan I am doing is "dirt" cheap. I go to Aldi every week and buy 30 bananas (easily last a week without issue) baking potatoes (microwave) porridge oats (microwave with plant based milk) grapes/oranges/pineapple , a big bag of spinach, bread, rice, ginger (I read it is good for blood pressure) lemon (supposedly beneficial, one a day) yeast extract (vit b12), mushy peas (tins), frozen peas, lentils, baked beans, pasta, onions, cucumber, carrots, jar of beetroot. Then I have to go to Tesco to buy soya mince which is pretty cheap there. I use this to make a vegan bolognese and a vegan chilli con carne with flavouring which is available vegan. If I were to adapt it to address the issue of underweight, I think I would up the bread, add advocados, nuts, dark chocolate. Might be a bit contrarian, but I do not think that over/underweight are as related to calories in/calories out as we are mostly told. I think it does rather revolve around macronutrition, specifically upping and lowering the fat content of our diet. Exercise has benefits, but not so much in terms of lowering body weight, more in terms of cardiovascular health and for upping the muscle mass of those who need it. Interesting stuff I find.