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BRITS' WAISTLINES GROWING Sky
News Monday
December 22, 2003 Britons are
getting fatter and, as a nation, we are well on our way to catching up with
America. There, obesity is an epidemic that
threatens almost all aspects of the national way of life. Over
two-thirds of Americans are now considered overweight, half of those clinically
obese. It is a
disease that costs the country well over $100bn a year in treatment. The overweight may develop numerous
medical complications, including heart disease and diabetes. In America,
300,000 deaths a year are directly attributed to unhealthy eating and physical
inactivity. Ten years
ago, radical gastric by-pass surgery was a high-risk rarity - now the figures
for these operations increase by 50% every year. There are
currently 700 surgeons in the United States offering gastric bypass operations. The demand is so great, there is a
three year waiting list. Gastric
by-pass surgery is still rare in Britain. Surgery is
only carried out at only 13 centres in UK. The British Medical Association only
supports obesity surgery for people with a body mass index of over 40 - about 70
to 100lb overweight. |