Average European is overweight

[pacific breeze]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6148456.stm
Average European 'is overweight'

The average European is overweight
The Maltese and the Greeks are the heavyweights of Europe, figures from the European Commission reveal.

The Italians and French the most trim, while the average Briton - like the average European - is slightly over the ideal weight.

Obesity, which is linked to a range of health problems, including heart disease, is a growing problem across much of the developed world.

The Commission plans to launch a strategy to tackle obesity next year.

EUROPE'S HEAVYWEIGHTS
Malta - 26.6
Greece - 25.9
Finland - 25.8
Luxembourg - 25.7
Hungary - 25.6
Cyprus - 25.6
Lithuania - 25.5
Slovenia - 25.5
Denmark - 25.5
UK - 25.4
Body Mass Index figures

Calculate your BMI
Obesity is measured by calculating body mass index (BMI).

A BMI of between 18.5 and 25 is considered healthy, between 25 and 30 overweight and above 30 obese.

The latest figures show that the average citizen in 20 EU countries, including the UK - where the average BMI is 25.4 - is overweight.

The average person in the other five, including Italy and France, is officially healthy.

Poor self-awareness

The Maltese recorded the highest average BMI at 26.6, the Italians the lowest, at 24.3.

SLIMMEST COUNTRIES
Italy - 24.3
France - 24.5
Austria - 24.8
Poland - 24.8
Netherlands - 24.9
Slovakia - 25.0
Belgium - 25.1
Latvia - 25.1
Estonia - 25.2
Czech Rep - 25.2
Body Mass Index figures

Despite the figures, only 38% of EU citizens consider themselves to be overweight, according to the poll of about 1,000 people in each of the 25 EU member states.

Most blamed a sedentary life for restricting their scope to be healthier.

Less than one third said they engaged in regular "intensive" physical activity.

And a large majority - 85% - said public authorities should play a stronger role in fighting obesity.

EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said: "This survey provides us with valuable insights into the concerns of EU citizens on health and nutrition."

[Aella]

Fucking fantastic. One of the rare occasions where we're on the top of a list in Europe, and it had to be for this?

Hardly surprising. I blame all the fast food that's available and people turning back on the Mediterannean diet. I see a lot of fat kids too, stuffing their faces with chips and burgers, it's disgusting.

[Rondette]

heh, and for a change uk is at the bottom! yey. Just did mine on an online BMI and I'm at 21, so I'm happily well below. woo hoo!

[Aella]

Ooh, an online BMI? Link please?

[Chilly Willy]

Originally Posted by Rondette

heh, and for a change uk is at the bottom! yey. Just did mine on an online BMI and I'm at 21, so I'm happily well below. woo hoo!

Actually it says, the UK is in the top ten. I amazed it didn't come in first, because there are so many fat kids in the UK.

This statistic must be off mark, because Germany should be in the top ten, too. I see so many fat kids (and people in general) these days. And it's not from Bratwurst or Sauerkraut, but from coke, potatoe chips, french fries, candy, pizza, and above all Döner. That stuff is like pure cholesterol. Throw some Playstation in there and you've got your recipe for obesity.

Now, would I make a fool of myself if I recommended that people shouldn't sit in front of their computers all the time?

[Rondette]

Originally Posted by Chilly Willy

Actually it says, the UK is in the top ten. I amazed it didn't come in first, because there are so many fat kids in the UK.

Yeah, but we're bottom, baby!

http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/bmi.htm
this is the BMI calculator I use.

[Somerset]

Originally Posted by Aella

I see a lot of fat kids too, stuffing their faces with chips and burgers, it's disgusting.

That is so mean. It's none of your business what other people eat. And I wonder if it would seem they were slovenly pigs "stuffing" their faces disgustingly if they weren't overweight. I'm sick of all this hysteria concerning weight and how everyone concentrates all their rancour and disgust on people they perceive as being overweight. Overweight people have essentially become the whipping boys of the 21st century. Last time I checked, people were allowed to lead their lives however they chose to. And do you honestly think calling overweight people who are eating "disgusting" is going to make it easier for people to have a healthy relationship with their bodies and food??

[pacific breeze]

Actually, it's everybody's business when diseases like early onset diabetes are becoming rampant and the average kid gets winded walking around the block. I don't think namecalling is appropriate but take a look at a schoolyard near you and I think you will be quite surprised at what you see.

[Somerset]

^^And making people feel guilty and scared is an effective method of educating children about health and preventing them from having unhealthy and problematic relationships with food and body image?? Putting all this focus on the overweight people, especially as lacking will power and being gluttonous and "disgusting" only excaberates the cycles of self-hatred and self-doubt that fuel bad eating and excercise habits. In order to eat well and excercise, you not only have to have the time and knowledge, you have to be able to value yourself very highly. Putting down or scaring people is not an effective remedy, in fact, I firmly belive it's part of the problem. People need to be drawing attention to the myriad of factors that fuel this problem, from lack of education and availability of affordable healthy foods to advertising and promotion aimed at children.
And in any case, reliance on the BMI for data such as this is highly problematic. It does not take into account muscle tissue, skeletal frame size, bone mass, or amount of body water, so there is actually no way of knowing how many of those people really are overweight. Any serious athlete would be likely to qualify as obese according to the BMI. A much more sophisticated statistical device would be required. This is not to say that I am denying that a problem exists, I just think people who take Aella's attitude are only making the problem worse. And frankly when it comes to adults in the end, the quotation in your signature basically sums it up.

[Aella]

Originally Posted by Somerset

That is so mean. It's none of your business what other people eat. And I wonder if it would seem they were slovenly pigs "stuffing" their faces disgustingly if they weren't overweight. I'm sick of all this hysteria concerning weight and how everyone concentrates all their rancour and disgust on people they perceive as being overweight. Overweight people have essentially become the whipping boys of the 21st century. Last time I checked, people were allowed to lead their lives however they chose to. And do you honestly think calling overweight people who are eating "disgusting" is going to make it easier for people to have a healthy relationship with their bodies and food??

Notice how I said it's disgusting, not they are. I don't give a crap about what adults chose to do to their bodies-be it smoking, drinking, doing drugs or eating nothing but junk. But when I see kids, especially very young kids who don't even have an allowance, who are already obese, then I have a problem, because most of the time they didn't chose to get this way, or if they did lack the judgement to realise the risks the way an adult should. I'd feel the same way about kids smoking, drinking, etc.

And the 'disgusting' also refers to burgers and chips-it's all I see kids munching on these days, fat or thin, and given that the Meditarenean diet is one of the healthiest, and kids now refuse to eat anything than chemical junk, yeah, it's pretty disgusting.

So save the 'people like me' schtick, because you have no idea what I'm like. I've never insulted an overweight person in my life.

[Nerissa]

People should not give themselves excuses to not take care of their health whatever bodytype and rolemodels!

[Pandora]

This BMI thing is crap. I'm at 17.5... "underweight". I eat VERY well, and am perfectly healthy (even my cholesterol levels are in perfect order, in spite of the amount of high-cholesterol stuff I go overboard with). I just don't gain weight, no matter how much I eat. I just maintain. Period.

[Somerset]

I see a lot of fat kids too, stuffing their faces with chips and burgers, it's disgusting.

Yeah, Aella, I have no idea how I interpreted this as being mean and referring to the "fat kids" who are "stuffing their faces" as being "disgusting."

[cynic]

Especially when you see so many fat kids out exercising and eating healthy foods.......

I guess obesity is an airborn virus, right?

[Lobelia]

*runs to find a good seat with some cover*