SCOTLAND is facing a health timebomb with a record one in three adults classed as obese.
Shocking figures show 32 per cent of men and women are grossly overweight.
3
3
3
It is a stark rise from the 24 per cent listed when the Scottish Health Survey began in 2003.
SNP ministers were accused of being “asleep at the wheel” as rates rocketed across the country – with the Tories attacking them for a failure to “promote a healthy lifestyle”.
Scottish Tory MSP Brian Whittle warned: “This damning survey must be an urgent wake-up call for SNP ministers.”
The damning report found a bombardment of junk food ads, more expensive healthier options and a lack of exercise has left Scotland at its fattest on record.
Obesity can increase the risk of health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, some types of cancer, and stroke.
World Health Organisation experts say adults need to engage in between two and a half and five hours of moderate intensity activity per week to stay healthy.
But the study found that levels of exercise are at their lowest for Scottish men since 2015, with just 68 per cent hitting the recommended amount, and similar figures for women at 59 per cent, the lowest since 2016.
Across all adults, activity levels are at their lowest, 63 per cent, since 2015.
The report also found that just under a fifth, or 18 per cent, of kids aged between two and 15-years-old consumed five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day, whilst adherence to recommended physical activity levels was found to be the lowest for children aged between 13 and 15.
Asked if the rise in obesity was caused by pandemic inactivity levels, the availability of takeaway food and the cost of living driving people to unhealthy, cheap food the public health expert Prof Simon Capewell said “yes, that’s right”.
He added: “The key issue is that we are surrounded by an ‘obesogenic’ environment – one where cheap junk food and sugary drinks are provided everywhere, and intensively marketed to us 24/7.
“Conversely, healthy food is three times more expensive per calorie, much less available, and advertised rarely.”
The country’s chief medical officer Sir Gregor Smith said that there had been a “continued decline” in the prevalence of hazardous or harmful drinking in Scotland.
But, he warned: “We see a significant increase in the levels of food insecurity, the highest levels of obesity recorded, and a continued rise in vaping, particularly amongst younger adults.”
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman, said: “With a record proportion of Scots living with obesity, we can’t afford a business as usual approach to public health.”
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added: “These concerning findings should be a wake-up call to SNP ministers.”
Public health minister Jenni Minto admitted obesity remained a “significant and complex public health challenge”.
She added: “This financial year we have provided core funding of £8.25million to health boards to deliver weight management services in line with the national standards and our type 2 diabetes prevention framework.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
“But more needs to be done, which is why we are calling on the UK Government to deliver an essentials guarantee, which the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimate could lift 140,000 people in Scotland out of poverty this year.
“We are committed to doing everything in our power to reduce and tackle youth vaping. The newly reintroduced Tobacco and Vapes Bill bans vapes from being deliberately promoted and advertised to children to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine.”
