Britain, no country for old men, is also no country for obese old women

An article in the 'Daily Mail' today was entitled :
Britain ranks just 21st in the women's expectancy table

It was based on a report for the World Health Organisation compiled by academics from University College London, which, for the first time, provided a detailed comparison between the overall health levels in more than 50 countries in Europe and shows that Britain ranks 21st out of 53 for female life expectancy rates – just behind Greece, Slovenia and Portugal. This means women in Britain enjoy less old age than their counterparts in Europe.

The statistics show that, British women :

* have an average life expectancy of 83 years which is two years shorter than women in France, Spain and Italy – as well as a year shorter than the average in Cyprus, Malta or Andorra.

* have, by way of explanation, obesity levels which are the worst in Europe, with 23% of them considered 'too fat', double the European average.


* compare badly to British men, who although they have an average life expectancy of 78, are placed 11th in the table.

Professor Michael Marmot, from University College London who chaired the study believes the country’s failure to tackle rising obesity levels is partly to blame for the disappointing figures and said :
"For obesity, particularly female obesity, we are absolutely dreadful. It’s dramatic and appalling that we have such high levels of obesity. We really are storing up big problems there. We are doing very badly. Why we eat so unhealthily is a much more broader and complex question. We think there are things we can do to change that but we’ve not done very much so far."



My earlier post on obesity in old men :

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Britain is a country with more and more fat, sick old men

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/britain-is-country-with-more-and-more.html