The real reason we are getting fatter: experts say it’s not as simple as overeating
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Excess weight will soon overtake smoking as the number one cause of cancer, while type 2 diabetes is on the rise. But what exactly is behind our national weight issue?
By Sarah Graham
The proportion of adults in England who were classed as overweight or obese rose from 52.9 per cent in 1993 to 64.3 per cent in 2019, according to data from NHS Digital. But this isn’t a trend born of only the last 30 years, the UK population has been seeing a steady increase in both its weight and size since the 50s and 60s, a shift which has been widely attributed to our changing lifestyles over the last half a century.
This change is already having an impact on our health with data published earlier in November showing that Type 2 diabetes is increasing at an ‘alarming’ rate among the under-40s. Cancer charities say that obesity is now the second biggest cause of the disease in the UK – with one in 20 cases caused by excess weight – and will overtake smoking to be the leading cause in the future. Su...
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