Britons Are Bloating!

The latest Government report in UK, states that British public are putting on so much weight that nearly a one third of the population will be obese within the next four years.

The distressing projection that has been published by the Department of Health, earlier in the week, states that by 2010, more than 14 million adults and children would get very dangerously fat, and on all probabilities, put their health at risk. The report stated that the public are dangerously ignoring their health, with millions of Britons stocking up a lifetime of health problems, like heart disease, cancer and diabetes, along with shortness of breath and low self-esteem.

Obesity is known to be the cause of premature deaths of 9,000 people a year in the UK. People from UK are now supposedly second only to those in US among the fattest people in the developed world. Experts in health are of the opinion that junk food and lack of exercise to blame.

Experts blame the over-consumption of junk food and present-day sedentary lifestyles for the explosion in obesity levels. They also blame the sedentary lifestyle that the children now follow thanks to the TV’s and computer games directly adding to the increasing problem.

It has been indicated that NHS, would probably have an increased expenditure of estimated £1billion every year in as a result of extra treatment, and this would thereby increase, the annual cost to the nation as a whole would probably rise by an astounding £7billion.

The latest figures from seem to indicate an even more dramatic worsening of the condition. The study seems to indicate that the epidemic of obesity would on all possibility increase to 38% in adults. It was explained that statistics three years back showed that only 9 million adults in UK were in principle obese, but by 2010 the figure will have soared to almost 13 million. Similarly in 2003, 17% of boys and 16% of girls were considered obese and the figures by 2010 is set to reach an alarming 1.7 million, with around 19% boys and 22% girls becoming obese.

Health experts have issued a warning that with the current trend, half of all children could be obese by 2020. They further stated that more children would also develop Type 2 diabetes, which till now generally is found only in middle-aged adults. They also explained that generally Type 1 diabetes is largely due to genetic factors and could be usually diagnosed in children, while Type 2 is generally caused by unhealthy lifestyle, and diet.

Stating that this might surely indicate that the government would in all probabilities miss out on their deadline to reach targets they had set in 2004 towards the halting of the obesity epidemic, the health activist are already warning people that the current generation of children could be the first for many decades, which might not live as long as their parents.

Stating that these latest figures were not surprising, Dr David Haslam, clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, had yesterday said, “We have been watching the levels of obesity inexorably rise in recent years so these figures are not unexpected. People talk of an 'obesity time bomb' but in my opinion it has already gone off. What we are waiting to see now are the time bombs explode of problems such as diabetes and heart disease.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said yesterday, “Tackling obesity is a government-wide priority. But every individual has responsibility for his or her own health. There are simple changes people can makes in their lives that will have a direct impact on their health, whether it's eating an extra piece of fruit or walking up the stairs. Our public health agenda is the first concerted attempt to tackle rising levels of obesity. Huge progress has been made already in starting to change attitude through the Five A Day Campaign, the school fruit scheme and more investment in school food.”

Economists are warning that the world now has more overweight people than hungry ones, and the trend is likely to continue, which could have adverse effects on the world economy.