Interesting Facts

According to a study carried out by Imperial College London and the World Health Organization, South Korean women will be the first in the world to have an average life expectancy above 90. (The study predicts we will all be living longer by 2030 and the gap between men and women will have started to close in most countries. South Korea wins the race because South Koreans are better at dealing with hypertension, the country has some of the lowest obesity rates in the world, and in general it offers better equality, education, and nutrition, which has benefited most people.)

According to studies conducted at King’s College London, junk food kills bacteria that protect against obesity, heart disease,  cancer,  diabetes, inflammatory bowel conditions and autism. (The human gut contains around 3,500 difference microbial species, which together make up some three pounds in weight, but a limited range of highly processed foods, rather than those found in a balanced, healthy diet, can wipe out the number of stomach flora by more than a third. Other studies suggest that Belgian Beer, garlic, coffee, leeks and celery are ideal foods for promoting healthy gut flora. Mmm - beer.)

According to Epidemiologists at Cambridge University the greater the access someone has to takeaway food, the higher the BMI (body mass index) and their odds of becoming obese are nearly doubled. (Several local authorities in the UK have already introduced restrictions on fast-food outlets, around schools or in places where there are already lots of takeaways, but now UK researchers are calling on a restriction on the number of fast-food outlets around offices and homes to help combat the obesity epidemic in the UK. How about fast food salads and fruit? Fruit is pretty fast food.)

A cinema in Malvern, Worcestershire has replaced its seats because British bottoms are getting wider. (The Grade II-listed cinema in Malvern has had to remove 380 of their 17" wide seats because the average cinema-goer no longer fits in them. A spokesman said: “We haven’t had anyone stuck but it can happen.” I think they should let it happen.  Getting winched out of a cinema seat might just be the incentive someone needs to bypass the popcorn stand on their way in.)

According to figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws, up to 74 morbidly obese children are estimated to have been taken into care in the UK over the last five years. (Information released by councils showed that 183 under-11s weighed more than 16st. 21 of the fattest 100 children in England were in London, 16 were in the West Midlands and 14 in the South East, but the two heaviest primary school pupils in England – a boy of 23st 2lb and a girl of 22st 11lb – lived in the North West. Allowing children in your care to become obese is considered to be child neglect, because it puts them at risk of developing serious conditions in adulthood such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.)

Research carried out at Swansea University suggests that babies who are spoon-fed by parents are more likely to become overweight. (The researchers believe the results of the study show that babies allowed to feed themselves during weaning are less likely to overeat and be overweight as toddlers as they can regulate their intake and stop eating when they are full. Their study also revealed that spoon-fed children were more likely to grow up to be "fussy-eaters" than those left to their own devices. This might explain why the phrase to be spoon-fed something is negative.  It means to be treated in a way that discourages independent thought or action. So don't be spoon-fed your English. Feed yourself.) Source - Journal of Pediatric Obesity

Pizza Hut introduced the Cheeseburger Pizza Crust pizza. (The spiel is that you can have it all - burger and pizza. At a whopping 2,880 calories, they are recommending it for sharing - for 288 calories a slice. And people wonder why there's an obesity epidemic, I mean how many people do you know who share a pizza between 10 people?) !Update - this pizza was withdrawn from sale in November .

According to a recent review to assess levels of fitness in Britain's police, over half of Metropolitan Police officers are overweight. (To be exact, 52 per cent of male officers and staff were overweight, 22 per cent were obese and 1 per cent were morbidly obese. You would think that chasing all those criminals would keep them fit.)

According to statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions, in the year up until April 2012, over 7,000 people in the UK claimed sickness benefit because they are too fat to work. (In 2012 it cost taxpayers around £30 million a year.  Which might seem a lot, but it's just a drop in the ocean when weighed against the total bill for obesity, which costs the taxpayer more than £5 billion a year, in benefits, expensive healthcare, equipment and carers.)

Gastric bypass operations in the UK are costing the NHS over £85 million a year. (In 2011-12 there have been 1,316 gastric band insertions and 124 gastric band removals performed for obesity under the NHS, and there have been 5,407 gastric bypass procedures performed under the NHS for obesity. The figures, provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, show an increase of 530% in 6 years.) A gastric band is an inflatable band that sits around the top of the stomach. Inflation of the band narrows the stomach, limiting it’s capacity to take food and increasing the feeling of fullness. This, combined with lifestyle changes, leads to weight loss.

A study of babies at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, in west London, found that overweight mothers 'give birth to fat babies'. (Newborn babies usually have about 700g of adipose tissue (fat tissue), but for each unit increase in maternal BMI (body mass index), this increased by approximately 7g with a huge build-up in fat in the babies’ livers. Maybe we need little pre natal treadmills.)

Obesity affects one in 10 adults around the world. ( Anyone else remember the spaceship from WALL-E ?! Sorry I couldn't find a picture/video of that part, but basically we are ensconced in moving chairs and everything is done for us. We don't even have to get out to eat or talk to our friends!) Source - BBC

According to scientists at Louisiana's Pennington Center in the USA, a common virus could cause obesity. (They took stem cells from fatty tissue taken from liposuction patients, and exposed some to adenovirus-36. After the cells had been left for a week, those exposed to the virus had changed into human fat cells, while those left to grow without the virus had not. So, now you know. I'm not fat, I've just got an infection.)

According to the Office for National Statistics, us Brits are fatter and lonelier than in the 1970s, (Seemingly, in the good old 70s there were fewer divorces (read people felt obliged to make their beds and lie on them), people were more neighbourly (read nosey) and churchgoing (read sanctimonious). In addition, more mothers stayed at home looking after their children (read became MCPBs). The good news is, that according to the same statistics (and anyone who really knows me knows what I think of them), we also live longer and take more foreign holidays. Whoopee!)

According to a study published in the International Journal of Obesity a fried breakfast of sausages, eggs, bacon, beans, mushrooms, black pudding and tomatoes is a healthier way to start the day than a bowl of cereal. (I know you're thinking "April Fool", but the theory is that a fatty breakfast will help you stop snacking during the day and you will eat less at night.  Now where did I put that plate of bacon and eggs?)

A report published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, says that overweight elderly people may live longer than those of normal weight. (But you've got to be overweight in the right way, a fine line between a few healthy extra pounds and being obese. And even if you're overweight, you have to keep active - sedentary lifestyles shortened lives across all weight groups. But I'll be alright, I've just been shovelling snow.)

According to researchers from the University of Sydney and Canberra's Australian National University (ANU) being obese in Australia does not mean you get paid less. (They found no wage penalty to being overweight or obese in the Australian labour market. Strangely this is in contrast with previous studies that used older data from the United States and Germany and found that people with a higher BMI (body mass index) earned lower wages. One explanation may be that because fat Australians are now in the majority, they don't face discrimination any longer.)

According to research by Debenhams, the size of men's feet in the UK has gone up a size in the past five years. (Half a decade ago, the average was a UK size 8. Now it is 9 and, to underline the trend, demand for size 12s has soared, retailers say. Requests for size 14 and above have also leapt in the past few years as men's feet appear to becoming broader and longer. Medical experts believe that Britain's obesity epidemic is fuelling the increase in shoe size. Seemingly eating processed foods during puberty can stimulate the growth hormone not only making your waist larger, but also other parts of the body. They mention hands and feet, but it makes you wonder....)

In the last five years, fire crews in England have received over 1,700 calls to help move obese patients. (Essex had the most calls at 390. It's not easy to move any human being, believe me, so they even have a 22 stone dummy to practise on. What a crazy world we live in.)

If you have fat friends you are more likely to become obese. (A study carried out at the University of Warwick, Dartmouth College, and the University of Leuven, suggests that choices about appearance, on which decisions such as job offers or being deemed attractive are based, are determined by the choices others around you make. So when I next chomp into a cream puff I'll blame my friends.)