Irish people are ninth fattest in Europe: UN

‘Long commutes to work impacting on weight levels’

IRELAND is the ninth fattest nation in Europe, a report reveals today.

The United Nations found that one in four Irish people is obese.

Our obesity rate of 25.3% is beaten by the likes of Turkey, with 32%, Malta at 29%, and the UK at 28%. The European average is 23%.

Obesity is defined as a bodymass index of more than 30. A tally higher than 25 is seen as overweight.

Obesity is already recognised as one of Ireland’s most serious public health challenges, affecting over one million people nationwide with an annual cost of €1.13billion each year.

Approximately one in 20 adults have an obesity-related disease such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, many types of cancer, sleep apnoea or sub-fertility.

An alarming study last year predicted that by 2030, nine out of every 10 adults will be either overweight or obese.

Professor Donal O’Shea, the HSE’s clinical lead for Obesity, said that our place on the ranking was not surprising, as we had been drifting towards this high rate for a number of years.

He said that the long work commutes facing much of the population was having an impact on our obesity levels.

‘People are spending too much time in their cars and all the work is based in the cities, so that people are commuting for long distances,’ he said.

‘I think Ireland has a perfect storm driving its obesity environment and it’s only going to change over time. It’s not going to change in the next year or two.’

With around one quarter of children in Ireland classified as obese, Dr Eva Orsmond said that prevention was the key to tackling the problem.

She suggested that weigh-ins should be introduced to school, which would involve children being weighed in private by public health nurses.