Rates of obesity in adults and children may have levelled off in recent years, suggest the latest figures in England.
But large disparities persist between the wealthiest and most deprived areas of the country.
Data from the most recent Health Survey for England show that in 2022, 64% of adults were overweight or obese, including 29% who were obese, with more men (67%) classified as overweight or obese than women (61%).
The figures for adults are similar to those reported in 2019 when 64% of adults were overweight or obese, including 28% who were obese.
It also showed that 15% of children aged between two and 15 were obese in 2022, similar to 2019 when it was 16%.
At 27% the prevalence of children classed as overweight fell from 30% in 2019 and was the lowest level since 2000, the figures show.
However, other aspects of the survey pointed to some concerning trends with 41% of adults having at least one longstanding illness or condition.
And the proportion of adults with raised cholesterol was 53%, an increase from 43% in 2019 where there had been a downward trend.
In all 7,729 adults (aged 16 and over) and 1,393 children (aged 0 to 15) were interviewed for the 2022 survey, while 3,885 adults and 507 children had a health visit.
It also found that the proportion of adults with diabetes – both previously diagnosed and not – was higher among adults living in the most deprived areas at 17% compared with the least deprived areas where it was 7%.
The survey also found that 45% of adults were trying to lose weight, and this was more common among women (52%) than men (38%).
It has been estimated that the NHS in England typically spends £6.5 billion a year on treating obesity-related ill health.
Public health measures such as the sugar tax as well as NHS programmes to help people lose weight could have played a part in the latest figures, NHS leaders said.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: ‘Obesity remains one of the biggest public health issues we face as a society, but these figures provide reason for cautious optimism that the combination of NHS weight management programmes and public health initiatives on junk food and sugar are providing a basis on which we can press on and begin to reverse decades of rising obesity rates and the associated cost to the health service, individuals, and the economy.’
Campaigners said further public health measures would be needed to make more progress, including addressing the health inequalities that mean 36% of people in the most deprived areas have obesity compared with 22% in the least deprived.
Katharine Jenner, the director of the Obesity Health Alliance, said: ‘Health should not be the preserve of the wealthy — better food and drink for all is at the heart of creating a fairer society, and we need a commitment from the government to put the health of our children above the interests of food industry giants.’
So maybe Covid IS making the British population more healthy….. by killing off the overweight people preferentially. Was this the way to achieve it though?
Fascinating how for thousands of years obesity was the preserve of the rich, and emaciation the mark of the poor. Yet within a few short years this has been totally reversed. Poverty defined by soaring obesity rates……astonishing.