by RRichie » Mon May 19, 2008 12:18 pm
From “The Mail on Sunday”
The men and women of 29 European countries are ranked by weight in tables compiled by the International Association for the Study of Obesity.
Scotland tops the female league, with 59.7 per cent of women overweight or obese.
England takes second place, with 58 per cent, a figure matched by Cyprus.
In contrast, just over 35 per cent of Italian women and 40 per cent of French women are overweight or obese.
The slenderest women are found in Switzerland, where fewer than one in three weighs too much.
The male league is topped by Cyprus, with a figure of 72.6 per cent. English men are, however, just a few pounds behind in second place, with 69.5 per cent overweight or obese.
Scottish men take tenth place, with a figure of 65.4 per cent. Latvian men are the trimmest, with just 44.6 per cent too heavy, the European Congress on Obesity in Geneva heard.
Obesity takes up to nine years off a person's lifespan and raises the risk of a host of health problems.
Association president Professor Vojtech Hainer said: "Even in the more affluent countries, the medical services are not geared up to cope with the rise in the level of type 2 diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancers that is expected as a result of the obesity epidemic."
The average Briton eats just over three portions of fruit and vegetables a day, well under the recommended five.
One in five manages to walk for 20 minutes at a stretch once a year or less - a statistic described recently by Professor Roger Boyle, the Government's leading cardiac expert, as "the most disgusting thing I have ever heard
