Slow progress over obesity, experts

16 July 2008 12:05am

There has been slow progress in tackling England's obesity problem and the spread of alcohol abuse, experts have said as they published a new report.

Despite England having the highest prevalence of obesity among adults in Western Europe, a Government strategy on the issue was only published this year, it said.

In 2007, alcohol misuse and related harm cost England's economy an estimated £55.1 billion, including £2.8 billion for public health and care services, it added.

The study, on progress in delivering health policy over the last 10 years, was published by the Healthcare Commission and the Audit Commission.

It praised cuts in smoking and teenage pregnancy and the "significant improvement" in bringing down death rates from cancer and coronary heart disease. However, more needed to be done to close the gaps between people living in the least deprived and most deprived areas of England.

Healthcare Commission head of public health, Jude Williams, said: "It is concerning that progress on tackling alcohol and obesity has been slow over the last 10 years, compared to other issues such as smoking and teenage pregnancy. We urge that lessons are learned from successful programmes such as these."

England has the highest rates of obesity in Western Europe, with around 23% of the adult population classified as obese.

About a third of children aged two to 15 were estimated to be overweight or obese in 2006, with a higher proportion of boys obese than girls. In 2006, 17.3% of boys and 14.7% of girls were obese, compared with 10.9% and 12% in 1995 respectively.

Deaths linked to alcohol doubled in men over the 15 years to 2006 while they also went up 80% in women. Alcohol-related hospital admissions have also more than doubled in the last 10 years.

If the trends continue, alcohol and obesity will have an increasingly profound effect on public health and service delivery, the report said.

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