Warning to Scots over poor diet and excessive drinking

15th December 2011 - More work needs to be done to improve the state of health of people in Scotland, its chief medical officer has said.

Sir Harry Burns warned that obesity, poor diet and excessive alcohol consumption were causing "unacceptable levels of ill health".

His comments came as figures for England showed that adult obesity had reached its highest level in almost two decades.

In his sixth annual report, Sir Harry acknowledged that important strides had been made in Scotland's health, such as a decline in smoking-related illnesses. He also welcomed a fall in death rates from the nation's three biggest killers - cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Drinking and diet

However, he pointed to evidence that suggested Scotland had the eighth highest alcohol consumption rate in the world. He quoted figures showing that the proportion of men who reported drinking more than their recommended daily limit had risen from 43% to 45% over a seven year period.

Sir Harry also said that figures from the Scottish Health Survey revealed that between 1995 and 2010, the proportion of adults aged 16-64 who were overweight or obese increased from 52.4% to 63.3%.

On diet, the chief medical officer reported that only 22% of adults ate the recommended daily amount of fruit and vegetables - a figure that had not changed much in recent years. The figure was even worse for school age children, he said, with just 12% of five to 15 year olds eating their 5-a-day.

Health inequalities

Sir Harry said that health in Scotland could be improved by a combination of legislation and helping people to help themselves. "There is willingness in Scotland to embrace new thinking in our efforts to narrow health inequalities, and make Scotland a better place to grow and develop," he wrote in the report's introduction. "If we can capitalise on this positive mind set, we can make changes which may result in significant improvements to the health and wellbeing of all Scots."

England health survey

Obesity among adults in England is at its highest level since 1993, according to new figures. The NHS Information Centre said that 26% of men and women were overweight or obese in 2010, compared with 13% of men and 16% of women in 1993.

In total, 68% of men and 58% of women were classified as overweight or obese, according to the latest Health Survey for England.

Sexual behaviour

For the first time, the 2010 survey also examined aspects of sexual behaviour. The findings suggest that sexual behaviour has changed over the generations, with an increase in the proportion of women who say they first had sex before the age of 16.

Overall, 14% of women and 20% of men reported that they had first had sex with someone of the opposite sex before their sixteenth birthday. Among women aged between 16 and 24, this figure rose to 27%.

This contrasts with young men in the same 16 to 24 year old age band of whom 22% reported having sex when they were younger than 16 - a similar proportion to those aged 25 to 69.