Closer to home, in Derbyshire 66% of adults are classed as overweight or obese. This is higher than the East Midlands regional figures at 63.7% and higher than the national figures for England at 61.3%.
What are the health risks associated with being overweight and obese?
Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing a number of chronic diseases and conditions.
These include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer, liver disease, asthma, osteoarthritis, back pain and sleep apnoea.
Most of the complications of obesity can be reduced by weight loss.
Why is it so important to tackle obesity?
Obesity has been described as a modern epidemic with its impact on health considered by many to be as significant as smoking.
There are now more obese adults in the UK than smokers.
Obesity threatens people's health and well-being and places a burden on public resources in terms of health costs, on employers through lost productivity and on families because of the increasing burden of long term chronic disability.
What is the predicated cost of obesity and related conditions?
According to the latest figures from Public Health England, the annual costs of obesity are as follows:
- £27 billion - indirect cost to the wider economy
- £5.1 billion - the direct cost to the NHS of people being overweight and obese
- £13.3 million - the net ingredient cost for obesity drugs for the treatment of obesity
- £352 million - estimated social care costs of obesity to local authorities
- 16 million obesity related sick days taken
Because of the negative financial and health impact that obesity has on communities, businesses, local authorities and the NHS, we need to act now to help address the problem. That's why we've launched the Be Portion Size Wise campaign.
We're offering evidence based, practical, simple solutions for people.
We're not telling people to make huge changes or to stop eating the food that they love - we're just challenging them to eat a little less of it.