Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Obesity study shows Scotland is sitting on a health timebomb

The study found that many Scots in their early forties are overweight or obese.
The study found that many Scots in their early forties are overweight or obese.

Scotland is sitting on a health timebomb with nearly two-thirds of adults in their early forties overweight or clinically obese, a new study has found.

New research from the Institute of Education at the University of London (IOE) has found that 38% of Scottish adults are overweight at the age of 42 while an another 24% are obese.

The problem is worse among men than women. Nearly half of all men (46%) are overweight at 42 compared to 30% of women, while 23% and 25%, respectively, are obese.

The research was conducted by Dr Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown from the IOE’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies.

They studied the body mass index (BMI) of almost 10,000 men and women in Scotland, Wales and England being followed by the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

The study follows the lives of 17,000 people born in a single week in 1970.

In Wales, the proportion of men and women who were overweight at age 42 was identical to that of Scotland, while obesity rates were slightly higher (26% for men and 27% for women).

The proportion of middle-aged adults in England who were overweight was also similar (45% of men and 29% of women).

The male obesity level was identical to Scotland’s but English women were less likely to be obese (19%).

The study reveals that British men are significantly less likely than women to accept they are carrying excess weight.

Dr Sullivan said: “People who are overweight or obese face a higher risk of many health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers.”

“But carrying excess weight is far more socially acceptable for men than for women, and men will not respond to health messages about weight and obesity if they do not recognise that they are overweight.”