Obesity Cuts Life Expectancy By Nine Years

In Northern Ireland 59% of adults are either overweight (36%) or obese (23%). Another worrying statistic is that 8% of children aged 2-15 years were assessed as being obese.

This was the key message delivered by Health Minister Edwin Poots at the launch of The Framework for Preventing and Addressing Overweight and Obesity in Northern Ireland 2012-2022: 'A Fitter Future for All'.

This ten year strategy will seek to improve the health and well-being of people throughout their entire life, from newborns to seniors.

Mr Poots said: "We need to face the issue of obesity head on. It’s an issue that will require commitment and action from across all sectors, including other government departments and agencies. It is therefore my intention to invest more than £7 million towards tackling the problem of obesity over the next three years.

"The new framework sets challenging targets. To date we have focussed on simply trying to stop the rise in the levels of obesity, however under 'A Fitter Future For All' we want to reduce the level of obesity by 4% and overweight and obesity by 3% among adults. This means changing for better the lives of around 60,000 people.

"This will require changes in our lifestyles and behaviours. Most importantly, individuals need to be given the opportunity to make decisions that will benefit their own health and well-being."

The Minister added: "The negative impact on health caused by obesity cannot be overstated. Being obese increases the risk of developing serious illnesses such as heart disease; stroke, some cancers and Type 2 diabetes and can cut life expectancy by nine years.

"It is a significant challenge facing modern society and if we don't tackle it now we are storing up a multitude of problems for ourselves in the future."

(CD/GK)