Obesity and gender

What is intriguing me today is the news that obesity has more quality of life costs for women, than for men. A study has found that the number of years of poor health as a result of obesity can be quantified and thereby compared between the genders.Apparently the study shows that obesity cost American women over three million years of lost health compared with just under two million years for men.

Thats about 5 million years of “lost health” in total, just in the United States.
It sounds a bit complicated, however it does go to show how something as common as obesity can exert a large effect on the health of the nation. The problem is, of course, that obesity is becoming more prevalent in the United States and elsewhere in the western world.

You can see it for yourself as you walk around any UK town or city. The number of people who are overweight to the point of obesity is definitely increasing.

The very sad fact is that you see more overweight children now. If only we could find a way of helping these kids understand the long term impact of their weight problems and help them realise that they are at risk from a variety of disorders that will reduce their ratio of “healthy” years and increase their chances of leading unhealthy lives.

I suspect that those large numbers of “health cost years”, mentioned in the study are set to increase before long, unless children (and probably more so, parents) can be better educated about the perils of being overweight.

Add comment July 31st, 2006 Written By: chris