The 15th European Congress on Obesity, held in Hungary, has called for a new approach to deal with the potential ‘disaster’. Delegates called for an end to discrimination against obese people.
‘Obesity should be treated within the health care system as any other complex disease,’said Prof. Vojtech Hainer, president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity. ‘In many European countries, more than half the population is overweight or obese.’
He decribed excess body weight as ‘one of the most important risk factors contributing to health problems’ which could ‘reduce average life expectancy by two years’.
Surveys presented at the congress showed that England, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Slovakia had some of the highest rates of overweight or obese adults. Yet in few countries were obese patients directed to specialist physicians.
‘Over 80% of obese kids remain obese as adults,’ said Dr. Martin Fried, from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. ‘The rise of child obesity shows some frightening figures.’
- Spain had the highest rate of overweight boys, with 35% in that category in 2000-2002. Other countries with high rates — between 29% and 31% — were Malta, Scotland, Greece, Portugal and England.
- Portugal had the highest rate for girls, at 34.3%, followed by Scotland (32.9%) and Spain (32%).
- Holland, Slovakia, Estonia and Finland were among the countries with the lowest rates of overweight children.
Fried said the high childhood obesity rates could lead to a crisis in the labor force of some EU countries. ‘If the trend continues, who is going to work within 10 years in countries where obesity is on the rise?’ Fried said. ‘This is going to be a disaster when they reach working age.’
