Oh dear... we’re fatter than pigs
When it comes to matters of weight, comparisons with pigs are usually deemed to be beyond the pale.
But not, perhaps, any longer. Scientists have discovered that humans are now, on average, actually fatter than pigs.
Studies show the animals have shed the pounds in recent years while greedy men and women have gone the other way.
this is due to changes in the way pigs are bred, which mean they now have around 16 per cent body fat – 4 per cent less than 20 years ago.
In contrast, obesity in humans has been on the rise since the 1990s, when the proportion of obese people was 15 per cent. It now stands at 28 per cent, with the average middle-aged man having 25 per cent body fat – nearly 10 per cent more than pigs.
For women, the figure is 33 to 38 per cent – around double that for pigs.
Fredrik Karpe, professor of metabolic medicine at Oxford University, said: ‘Certainly the pigs have gone in one direction and the humans have gone in the other... and now the humans have overtaken the pigs in fat levels. If pigs could talk they might well tell each other: “You look as fat as a human”.’ Pigs are being bred to be leaner as farmers try to market the meat as healthy and diet-friendly.
Researcher Susan Jebb, professor of diet and population health at Oxford University, said: ‘If the average pig has 16 per cent body fat then for sure that is lower than the average person in the UK.’
And Christine Walsh, of the Agriculture and horticultural Development
Board, which sponsored the pig research, added: ‘Pigs have changed a lot since 1990 and are pretty lean compared to what people may think.’
the average weight of a middle-aged man has risen from 12st 6lb in 1993 to 13st 5lb today, while women have put on 12lb on average, climbing from 10st 8lb to 11st 6lb.
Ironically, it is partly Britain’s taste for fatty processed pork which has driven up obesity levels.
Demand for bacon and sausages has never been higher – but prices have risen sharply over the past year after a significant drop in supply from China.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, African swine fever swept through Chinese farms – which saw the country rely on imports for the first time in decades. It led farmers to breed supersized pigs to tackle the shortage.
China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of pork, but prices were up by almost 50 per cent by late 2019 compared with the year before.
Farmer Pang Cong, based in China’s south-western Guangxi region, has been breeding larger animals, his biggest so far weighing in at almost 79 stone – the same as an adult male polar bear.
Farm pigs in the region typically weigh 20 stone. Mr Pang could produce around 4,000 sausages or rashers of bacon with his giant pig.