NHS costs attributable to overweight and obesity are projected to reach £9.7 billion by 2050

[hellymissy]

So many posters keep banging on about people not wearing masks, spreading the virus and overwhelming the nhs, people breaking rules etc which is obviously an issue - but we also need to focus on some bigger issues around the long and short term sustainability of the NHS a d consider ways to fix them.

Extracts from government website shows that;

“UK and international evidence suggests that being severely overweight puts people at greater risk of hospitalisation, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission and death from COVID-19, with risk growing substantially as body mass index (BMI) increases.

The current evidence does not suggest that having excess weight increases people’s chances of contracting COVID-19. However, the data does show that obese people are significantly more likely to become seriously ill and be admitted to intensive care with COVID-19 compared to those with a healthy BMI.

The UK-wide NHS costs attributable to overweight and obesity are projected to reach £9.7 billion by 2050, with wider costs to society estimated to reach £49.9 billion per year.”

If anything will cripple the NHS it’s the direct and indirect impact of obesity on ICU units, and long term pressure obesity puts on the NHS.

Seriously, What else can we do to tackle obesity?

**this is NOT a fat shaming thread, purely a thread to redirect some peoples attention towards some of the real issues around COVID

I think the government are doing things, they are doing some of these examples.

It's a cultural thing though. There are burgers and chips and rubbish food as well as sweets etc in every shop now and massive portions. They need to stop shops selling so much rubbish so cheaply and somehow change people's attitude to food where they choice rubbish, chips and burgers and fast foods over a healthy sandwich.

It annoys me people denying unhealthy food is more cheaper than healthy unhealthy food. Healthy food is 100% more expensive than unhealthy. The price of food in general has risen a lot but fruit and veg prices are so expensive

hellymissy Where are the stats?

@Nhsisfucked I agree a lot of it is mindset and lack of motivation.

I have a friend who is morbidly obese and says she is worried about COVID but in the same breath keeps eating like there's no tomorrow and not sticking to a regular exercise plan

I think there are multiple facets for people being overweight.

Time poor and or poor cooking skills makes cheap beige type food attractive to buy as the price is low and it's quick and easy to shove in the oven. I would say the majority of my dinners are meat/veg/salads but they take up far more time to prepare and watch over than the few cheaper and quicker 'oven dinners'. I am fortunate that I can choose to buy a range of foods but when money is tight and you are be working all hours I totally understand why nutrition might take a back seat.

@ivykaty44 my thread title!!

I think obesity is a complex blend of poverty (including childhood poverty even if you no longer live in poverty) / time poverty / poor mental health / long working hours / lack of infrastructure for healthy activities / a culture of staying indoors more during winter if you live further north where it's colder and wetter.

I'm always interested in the Scandi approach to things - a culture of being outdoors more, excellent medical care, shorter working hours and better childcare, strong community networks, less inequality in society.

I would like to see more access to specialist treatment for eating disorders. Obesity is often a symptom of disordered eating. Certainly my weight tracks my mental health fairly accurately.

I’ll go back and look 👀

Re SSRIs etc. Poor diet is also linked to mental health issues.

Obesity goes hand in hand with inflammation in the body (hence all the health issues) and this inflammation also seems to happen in the brain causing depression / anxiety etc.

Obesity is a total no win all round yet somehow we’ve slept walked into it being a majority condition

Sorry I can’t see the links to the stats?

@ivykaty44

The UK-wide NHS costs attributable to overweight and obesity are projected to reach £9.7 billion by 2050, with wider costs to society estimated to reach £49.9 billion per year.”

a lot of it is mindset and lack of motivation

And even more of it is poverty and inability to afford a healthy diet of variety and fresh unprocessed food - with limited or no access to cooking and storage facilities.

The NHS bears a lot of the blame too.
Far too many people gain weight because of being left with limited mobility whilst on long waiting lists for diagnoses and treatment. (I'm talking about in 'normal' pre pandemic times).

The problem with turning obesity discussions into it being about poverty is that there are 63% overweight or obese and 20% adults in poverty.
Which means that 40%, the majority (and that assumes all in poverty are obese, which they absolutely aren't, but I don't know stats there) is not obese due to poverty. Yet it is always the most mentiomed reason and it turns every single idscussion into "people have no pans" talk.

Oops. That’ll be me

[quote hellymissy]@ivykaty44

The UK-wide NHS costs attributable to overweight and obesity are projected to reach £9.7 billion by 2050, with wider costs to society estimated to reach £49.9 billion per year.”[/quote]
Better get them off the food and straight onto the fags.

Smoking brings in, rather than costs, billions.

We need the same rules as covid surely, provide proper laws that protect the NHS.

A pack of meat and veg is not expensive? No more than a burger and chips - I think it's that health food is not as appealing people see it as boring.

If it makes you feel any better op, my dh was obese and he dropped dead of a heart attack before retirement age, so despite all his NI contributions and tax paid he'll save the tax payer decades and decades of costly pension, healthcare (you use more the older you get) care fees etc. So maybe think about costs to the tax payer across a person's whole life

It's vitally important to include the issue of poverty when talking about obesity.

If you're wanting to tackle it, that is. As opposed to simply victim blaming and indulging in an exercise of feeling morally superior.

The links between obesity and poverty (and separately, mental poor health and obesity) are widely known, reported on, and researched.

@SheepandCow yes poverty may be a factor but it is one of many

That's not actually the statistics though, it's a headline piece with no data behind it.

@ivykaty44 the OP seems to be quoting from here, but there's nothing cited as a source.

According to the OP's source, obesity cost the NHS £6.1billion in 2014/15, so actually the statistic in the headline is not as large as it sounds. £9.7billion represents under 7% of the 2020 NHS budget of approx £145 billion, which will also presumably increase between 2020 and 2050 (these figures come from a rough Google - I haven't gone into it in depth!)

Change the advice handed out by the government? The food pyramid is making people fat. I’ve been on a low carb diet for around four months now and I’ve gone from a BMI of 26/27 to a BMI of 23. Its a revelation. I will NEVER go back.

@LBOCS2 it's the prediction for 2050, I never said it was current figures

Direct money at mental health - many eat emotions or eat for comfort etc. Then link this with food poverty

Better basic cookery for all sexes in school

Cheaper or free exercise opportinities with motivations etc

But then again what costs associated with driving in terms of accidents from that
What cost accidents at work (and other health and safety related injuries)
What cost drink - fri and sat night on the town, liver and heart disease related etc.

I also think with obesity is a change in how they encourage you to eat, I would also say there are issues with being underweight that would als be helped by directing funds at mental health as well

There is no immediate solution - much of the reasons are cultural and that takes big change programmes

www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/economic-environmental-social-factors-shape-health-key-tackling/amp/

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/09/poverty-causes-obesity-low-income-families-need-to-be-better-off-to-eat-well

Here we go again