The UK has more obese women than any other country in Europe, according to European Union figures.

Data agency Eurostat, which looked at 19 countries, found nearly a quarter of UK women - 23.9% - were recorded as being obese in the year 2008 to 2009.

Just over 22% of UK men were classed as obese, coming second only to Malta.

A person is defined as obese if their body mass index (BMI), the result of a calculation involving weight and height, is above a certain level.

The BMI correlates fairly well with body fat.

Statisticians found the share of overweight and obese people increases with age in all of the 19 member states that data was available for.

The data come from the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) and was published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Its figures for the UK were based on data from England, although surveys suggest the percentage of obese adults in Wales and Northern Ireland is similar and Scotland’s latest health report put the figure at 28%.

After the UK, the countries with the highest levels of female obesity were Malta, with 21.1%, and Latvia, where 20.9% fulfilled that criteria.

Meanwhile, after Malta and the UK, the countries with the highest instances of male obesity were Hungary - where 21.4% fall into that category - and the Czech Republic, where 18.4% are classed as such. …..Read More

Bariatric surgery (also known as weight loss surgery) is a great solution for obese patients who have been struggling in their attempts to lose weight. There are several different types of procedures a patient may consider, all of which reduce food intake and may decrease the amount of food absorbed allowing for significant weight loss. Bariatric surgery requires a lifelong commitment in order to maintain weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.

So who qualifies for this type of surgery? Criteria is predicated upon a patient’s basal metabolic index or BMI and potentially co-morbidities. A person’s BMI is determined by their height and weight and will then put you into one of the following categories:

BMI Category

8.5 - 24.9 Healthy

25.0 - 29.9 Overweight

30.0 - 39.9 Moderately Obese

40+ Morbidly Obese

Bariatric surgery is recommended in most patients who have a BMI of 40 or more or have a BMI greater than or equal to 35 with two or more co-morbidities present. The following is a list of just some of the conditions considered to be co-morbidities: type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, weight-related arthritis or joint pain, weight-related respiratory disease, reflux disease, serious diseases caused or aggravated by moderate or morbid obesity. After surgery, bariatric patients will usually see improvement and sometimes resolution of these co-morbidities.

Read more at Jacksonville.com

Almost 10 percent of the world’s population was obese in 2008, according to studies published today by the medical journal The Lancet. The percentage of people with uncontrolled hypertension, or high blood pressure, fell, with high-income countries showing a larger drop. Cholesterol levels declined in North America, Australia and Europe, but increased in East and Southeast Asia as well as the Pacific region, researchers said.

The rise in obesity, as measured by body mass index, is worrying and may lead to an increase in diabetes, said Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London, who led the research.

Ezzati suggested taxing sugary drinks and sweets as well as rethinking transportation, such as adding bike lanes.

“We are at best buying some time” Ezzati said in an interview yesterday. “We have to get very serious about BMI, beyond good intentions.” Policy changes may begin to reduce obesity in as little as five years, he said.

The findings about Americans and obesity add to evidence that the U.S. has a weight problem. About 68 percent of American adults are overweight, raising their risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer, according to the 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Almost 34 percent are obese.

The Japanese and Singaporeans are the slimmest.

Article coutersy Bloomberg - Click Here To Read More

The rise is being driven by increasing urbanisation, the growth of sedentary, office-based lifestyles and the substitution of Western-style fast foods for traditional diets. Researchers from Imperial CollegeLondon and McMaster University in Canada, writing in The Lancet, describe it as a “tsunami of obesity that will eventually affect all regions of the world”.

In its wake comes an epidemic of heart disease and stroke, linked with high blood pressure and raised cholesterol levels. Remarkably, high-income countries such as the US and UK have managed to avoid this, by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol with drugs and dietary changes, such as reducing salt and fats. Smoking too, one of the key causes of heart disease, has fallen.

Citing the noted British epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose, the authors say: “Mass disease and mass exposures require mass remedies. Mass remedies require the masses to be part of the solution.”

The US is World’s Fastest Growing Fatties

The US saw the biggest rise in BMI of all developed nations between 1980 and 2008, more than 1kg a decade. Increasingly sedentary occupations, less walking and cycling, more driving in cars and rising consumption of fast foods and sugary drinks are behind the rise which affects all high-income countries.

World’s smallest Nation is also the Fattest

Nauru is the world’s fattest country, with an average BMI of 34 to 35. Located in the south Pacific it is the smallest island nation, with a population of less than 10,000. Obesity has grown as a result of the importation of Western foods paid for with proceeds from phosphate mining. The most popular dish is fried chicken and cola.

Source:Scientists warn of ‘tsunami of obesity’

Fiona Johnson of University College London and her colleagues analyzed a number of studies that examined the relationship between exposure to cold temperatures and the ability to burn off energy. Their research is published in the journal Obesity Reviews.

They found evidence that over the past several decades, people in the U.S. and the U.K. have been steadily raising the temperatures in their homes.

They also found indirect evidence that the body’s response to cold, which consists of shivering and hormonal actions, plays a major role in energy expenditure. Regulation of body temperature, they say, is associated with weight.

“Both genetic mutations and ablative lesions that result in abnormal energy expenditure contribute to the development of obesity in laboratory animals,” the authors wrote.

“As ambient temperatures go down, people tend to move around and have more adaptive behaviors that allow them to burn more energy,” said Dr. Peter McCullough, chief academic and scientific officer at St. John Providence Health System in Detroit. McCullough was not involved in the current research.

But other weight loss experts said the connection between cold temperatures and weight isn’t yet very strong and they can’t say for certain whether there’s any association with obesity.

Read More Click Here

Dominique Bellas, 26, was teased about her size from the age of 10 and weighed more than 19st by August 2009.

She was even mistaken for being pregnant while at her heaviest.

The council worker said she was spurred on to start slimming after her brother was diagnosed with the heart condition left ventricular cardiomyopathy.

The aspiring model and actress was warned by doctors she may also have the disease.

Miss Bellas, of Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, said: ‘I knew that being overweight was putting extra strain on my heart so I had to do something about it.

‘I’d been in denial for so long and it was time to face up to it. On the outside I was confident - perhaps over confident - and always making jokes, but I think that was just my way of hiding the fact that my weight was making me really unhappy.’

Before she joined Slimming World in September 2009, Miss Bellas said her normal diet included peanut butter on toast and a banana for breakfast, two rounds of sandwiches for lunch and creamy pasta dishes or takeaways for dinner.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1350055/Miss-Slinky-2011-Dominique-Bellas-dropped-6-dress-sizes.html#ixzz1BykNDdoL

From The BBC News Health

The average British man was more than a stone heavier in 2000 than he was in 1986, an Oxford University study found.

Scientists put the average weight rise of 7.7kg (16.9lb) down to men eating more calories and taking less physical exercise than 15 years earlier.

The British Heart Foundation research in the British Journal of Nutrition analysed changes in food consumption and body weight between 1986 and 2000.

Women’s average weight gain over the period was 5.4kg (11.9lb).

By studying official figures on body weight from 1986 and 2000 and calculating the food energy available during that time, researchers were able to work out the expected extra food eaten by men and women during that period.

They predicted that the average man in 2000 ate more food than the average man in 1986 - enough to make him 4.7kg (10.3lb) heavier in weight.

But the actual observed increase in average male weight turned out to be higher.

This was much more than expected, so the study concluded that a reduction in physical activity was behind the increased weight as well as the extra food.

Read More Here

I think you are going to enjoy this!

What if you could just think about what you are going to eat for lunch and then just relish it in your mind before you actually do lunch?

Well, apparently it works! Research has shown that people tended to eat less of a food if they imagined the eating process repeatedly before they actually ate the food.

The study led by Dr. Carey Morewedge from Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University shows people tended to eat less of a food if they imagined the eating process repeatedly before they actually ate the food. And the study found the more food a person “ate” in his imagination, the less food subsequently he would eat.

In the study, according to what Dr. Morewedge told NPR Science Friday radio program, study participants were told to imagine the process of eating M&M, including moving the candies into a bowl, and then asked to eat the real food. Those who imagined eating 30 M&M ate much less real M&M than those who imagined eating only 3 M&M.

Dr. Morewedge said simply imagining moving the food did not help.

He said you also need to imagine eating what you are going to eat to reduce the consumption of the food. The study showed when participants imagined they were eating M&M, and then when they were assigned to eat cheese cubes, no matter how many M&M they ate in their imagination, they ate the same amount of cheese.

Read the rest of the article from FoodConsumer.org > Here

Contrave’s benefits in helping obese people lose weight are greater than the drug’s potential long-term risks, outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration said today in a 13- 7 vote at the agency’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. The panel earlier said a study of Contrave’s heart risks should be done after approval.

Orexigen, based in La Jolla, California, and partner Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. avoided safety concerns that delayed competing products from Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Vivus Inc. in October. The FDA hasn’t approved a prescription diet pill since 1999 for the almost two-thirds of U.S. adults who struggle with their weight.

“I voted yes for one more option,” said Melanie Coffin, the panel’s patient representative. “I’m disappointed with the efficacy, it’s very small. It’s not going to be a perfect drug for everyone.”

The FDA usually follows its advisers’ recommendations and is scheduled to make a decision on approval by Jan. 31.

Read More Here

Here is a news report on the BBC that you may want to read.

Over half of adults living in the European Union countries are now overweight or obese according to a report.

The rate of obesity has more than doubled over the past 20 years in most EU member states, international experts say.

The UK comes out worst, shortly followed by Ireland and Malta, where a quarter of the population is obese.

World experts meet this week to discuss how to reverse the “worrying trend”.

The European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) who compiled the Health at a Glance Europe 2010 report believe the key to success is encouraging children to adopt healthy habits.

Currently, one in seven children in the EU are overweight or obese - and the figures are set to rise even further.

Click Here To Read More on Europeans are overweight.