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Obesity in Shetland


shetlander
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Some interesting press reports today claiming that Shetland has the highest number of obese people per head of population than anywhere else in the country.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7584758.stm

 

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is the sample too small to draw any meaningful conclusions or is it an accurate representation of the current situation?

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The trouble is you will always get people who will refuse to pay 20p for an apple, but quite willingly pay £5.00 for a packet of fags !, still it's their choice, there is enough infomation out there about the risks of smoking and high fat and salty food intake, and the lack of regular excercise.

The one thing that bugs me is the amount of time allocated for PE at schools up here compared with England.. 45mins a week compared with a minimum of 5 hours. Iknow we have leisure centres, but not all kids use them all the time.

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Looking around my extended family and friends, I can seriously only think of one person who might be called 'obese', but even then you'd be pushing it. I think that's bullsht.

I think 'obese' is less fat than you might imagine. We're not talking about 'unable to walk' fat, but a ratio between height and weight. The definition of obese is something like 20% over your ideal weight.

 

I can think of several obese friends and family members without trying.

 

A BMI of 22 is 'ideal' Twerto; you can be above this by quite a way and not be obsese.

 

From: http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/body_weight/healthy_weight/bmi_calculator.htm

 

Under 18.5 Underweight

18.5* - 25 Healthy Weight

25 - 30 Overweight

30 - 40 Obese

Over 40 Severely obese

 

The problem with BMI is that it doesn't take into account that some people are muscley. Heavy-weight boxers are often technically obsese, but aren't exactly what you'd call 'fat'.

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Looking around my extended family and friends, I can seriously only think of one person who might be called 'obese', but even then you'd be pushing it. I think that's bullsht.

 

I think the report is spot on - we have just done a basio analysis of work place and our families - the % is even higher!!!

 

When you wander around Shetland nowadays the place is heaving with overweight folk - BUT i wouldnt say we were much worse than anybody else.

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I'd say the folk here are much fatter than they used to be, esp the young folks. 20 years ago, seeing a fatty under the age of 30 was rare, now its every third person. It is a product of modern living, cheap mass produced food, high in calories and engineered to taste good, the supermarkets are bursting at the seams with it. :roll:

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