85% of people in Wales will be obese by the year 2019. That is the dire prediction, unless we take drastic action now.
Wales has some of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the world and is the fattest nation in the UK, with 57% of adults classed as overweight or obese. Research by Swansea University in 2005 found 8% of girls and 5% of boys are obese by the age of five. 22% of 13 year old boys and 16% of girls are classed as overweight or obese.
Medics warn that Wales is in the grip of a complex eating disorder that is shortening lives. Professor John Baxter is president of the Obesity Society and he says “It is hard for health commissioners to extend obesity surgery services because it is unpopular with the public. There is prejudice against obesity. The lay population’s view is ‘it’s their own fault. Why should we spend money on fat people?’ Until you get a better understanding of obesity it’s going to be difficult.” To those who say people must eat less, Professor Baxter says diets only work in the short term. “People need long term help and sometimes medical intervention. Obesity is a problem we don’t fully understand.”
Wales Online
NOSC View
This is an interesting report that clearly shows the extent of the obesity problem in Wales. Yet again it would seem that gastric balloon and gastric band procedures are low on the list of healthcare priorities. People of normal size cannot understand the complexities of weight loss and there is often an opinion that ‘fat people are lazy and have no self -discipline.’ In our experience this is usually far from the truth. Obesity is a chronic disease of which we have a limited understanding. The more that people try to lose weight, the worse the problem becomes. This is the reason that people opt for bariatric surgery as a means to gaining life long control.