Eight out of 10 men too fat within a decade

18th February 2010 - Obesity among adults is predicted to go up dramatically by 2020. It’s expected by then that eight out of 10 men will be overweight or obese, according to a new study.

The future doesn’t look that bright for women either. The study estimates that in a decade more than six out of ten will be carrying too much weight.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have number crunched the figures from 1993 to 2007 and predict that by 2020 41% of men aged 20-65 will be obese and so will 36 per cent of women.

In the 40-65 age group, the predictions are 44% for men and 38% for women.

The predicted proportion of adults who will be overweight is 40% for men and 32% for women.

Burden on the NHS

The experts were led by Professor Klim McPherson who is Chair of the National Heart Forum.

Recently there have been predictions of levelling off in future rates of childhood obesity, but Professor McPherson says it’s not a trend mirrored in adults.

In a news release he says, “There are already more men who are obese than who are of a healthy weight and by the end of the decade obese men and women could outnumber those who are overweight. The serious health problems associated with obesity mean that these continuing rising trends will impose a substantially increased burden on the NHS.”

Experts say it’s not a surprise

The National Obesity Forum is not the least surprised at the updated predictions. Spokesman Tam Fry tells us by email: “If anything it may be on the optimistic side since it cannot have taken account of the effects of the credit crunch.

“We fear that the downturn in the economy will lead to an upturn in obesity figures in the future because the increase in the cost of living will make healthy food more expensive and families may turn more and more to energy-dense junk food for their diet.”

The research team also expects that by 2050 there will be big rises in obesity-related strokes, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.

According to Professor McPherson “The Government needs to redouble its efforts to tackle obesity.”

Earlier this week the Government launched a new campaign to urge adults to lose weight and get healthy. The ‘Swap it Don’t Stop It’ part of the Change4life programme encourages people to swap watching sport for doing sport, swap white rice for brown rice to increase fibre and swap big plates for small plates to cut portion sizes.

Tim Marsh from the National Heart Forum tells us: “There’s not just one solution to the problem of obesity; we need a multitude of help from better labelling on food ,wider availability of good food to reshaping our environment to encourage walking and active travel. “