Fat people even more likely to be affected by COVID than previously thought

[pocketem]

UK government scientists are urgently investigating whether people living with obesity may be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, after emerging data from intensive care units suggested a stronger link than previously thought.

New data from the UK’s Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre, which has been presented to ministers and SAGE scientists, has found that the proportion of severely obese patients in ICUs is twice the proportion in the general population.

Ministers have become increasingly alarmed by data coming out of Britain’s intensive care units, with some members of the government suggesting obesity may end up being a factor in the UK’s higher death toll.

The UK is currently projected to have the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe. Around 1 in 4 UK adults are obese. In 2018, the WHO found that the UK had the third highest obesity rate in Europe, behind only Malta and Turkey.

More here:
www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/alexwickham/uk-scientists-coronavirus-obesity-link

Im going to write a novel about this pandemic and call it You Only Die Twice.

Or Thrice.

@HeIenaDove best thing I've read on this thread a magically adventure full of cake and sweets

*magical

Yep.

I would have thought at least a small part of the issue with weight and covid is that breathing takes more effort if you're overweight. People with respiratory disease are told to stay within their bmi (although not below the middle of the range) because breathing is more difficult with extra weight. For example, people who lose weight usually notice a marked difference when exercising.

I read a good article by George monbiot a year ago or maybe a bit less, talking about weight and obesity. He talks a lot about highly processed food and makes a good argument. I agree with him. We've all got more obese but its not because collectively we've all lost our willpower! It's the processed food we eat now. As usual, mega corporations are to blame.

Remember reading tip to avoid any food that is advertised on tv ...

@turfsausage but there is still plenty of fresh food available, they are to blame for creating it and advertising it heavily, but we are ultimately responsible for buying it. Veg is fairly cheap now compared to what it used to be, fruit less so; but unless they're physically bringing it into people's homes then no.

You can try to shift blame to others for just about everything in life.

The bottom line at present is if you want to live and see your children grow up it might be a good idea to eat less and try to make it non processed foods. I am probably about 2 or 3 pounds over the recommended level. I am not sitting here as some skinny minny saying it's easy to lose weight. I do think covid 19 and the pressures on he NHS almost behove us all m orally to try to get a lot thinner if we can for the sake of nurses if no one else.

I am sitting here on my turbo preparing to have no breakfast 😁

That certainly have always worked best for me and intermittent fasting - big break between dinner and first meal of the next day - does tend to be good for a lot of people and is certainly simpler than trying to choose XYZ food etc - just nothing.

Anyway as I say to my vegan (of 4 or 5 years) son I am certainly not the expert on any of this as I do it badly, having put on and lost weight a lot of the time.

Absolutely! Was bmi 27 3 months ago now bmi 21 and determined to stay that way..

Wish I could link but there is much evidence that longer and healthier life is linked to (among other things!) having string, big large muscles, think glutes.
So the observation that big tummies on spindly legs are a marker in COVID wards of morbidity fits.
DD is about to embark on career in epidemiology and is a qualified fitness instructor and is fond of telling me this stuff! And I am listening. List over two stone last year (put a little on on lockdown but can sort that), and am squatting for England at the moment!

After researching intermittent fasting and Michael Mosley was shocked how out of date and frankly wrong the nhs official advice was 🙄

would have thought at least a small part of the issue with weight and covid is that breathing takes more effort if you're overweight. People with respiratory disease are told to stay within their bmi (although not below the middle of the range) because breathing is more difficult with extra weight. For example, people who lose weight usually notice a marked difference when exercising.

This makes sense, ultimately for whatever reason you are overweight, it's the excess weight itself that is an issue. When I was, if I grabbed my stomach fat and essentially took the pressure off of my body lugging it around for a few seconds, I could tell it was easier to breathe. That was actually the turning point for me where being overweight had gone from being an annoyance at looking crap in clothes, to literally making it harder to breathe which was scary.

Big glutes? Really?

I have big legs from walking a lot/sport (glutes, quads, hamstrings and (sadly?!) fairly overdeveloped calves)

May be time to stop wishing to be “skinny” then

I have previously read an article saying calves are like the “second heart” for pumping blood around the body.

Still so much we don’t know about health, I guess

I can’t get rid of my inner voice telling me skinny is best (for health and fashion too) though!

Yes - skinny isn't necessarily good in and of itself.
If your big glutes are muscly rather than fatty (be honest!) then that's good. I guess it's an indicator of an active lifestyle.

Yeah, fair bit of fat too being honest, I always had a big bum even at size 10

But big muscle too. Am one of those women who put on muscle easily. Even at almost 50, my DH teases me my biceps are bigger than his

It’s just not fashionable or “pretty” for women to be muscular (but probably just read too many beauty magazines in the 80s)

Will be joining you for extra squats

The Apple shape is said to be unhealthy. I’d love to be shapely like Kelly Brook-unfortunately where you carry fat IS genetic and if I stray outside my BMI I turn into an apple balanced on two toothpicks. All my fat goes to my stomach/torso/chin😭hence I am strict about it
Any other apples?👋

Also the fact were a very small country that weve allowed to become very overpopulated, packed in like sardines, it was always going to rip through cities like wildfire.

I was never an apple until I hit my 40s. Then my weight distribution changed. My legs are muscly though deffo not skinny! Years of athletics when younger!

I carry the weight all over, have large bum and legs

I don’t think I eat a great deal. But what I have noticed is if I sleep for 8+hours (3 times since August 2018) the weight drops off me I can lose 4lbs from the previous day.

If like last night I have only 3 hours and 3 minutes sleep I put on 2lbs.

Sleep for me is a huge issue.
If I could sleep for 8 hours per night every night I would be a supermodel

After researching intermittent fasting and Michael Mosley was shocked how out of date and frankly wrong the nhs official advice was

It’s an absolute horror story. 24,000 people a year die from T2 diabetes a year which is entirely reversible by diet and lifestyle. And that is just the deaths, 1000’s of amputations, billions on prescriptions for medication that isn’t needed.

The dietary advice from the NHS is just plain wrong.

Ask 100 people in the UK about the relationship between fat and heart disease...99% of people will say it cause heart disease. It’s total miseducation. Fat doesn’t kill you or make you fat (unless it is the shitty refined vegetable oils e.g. sunflower oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, trans fats)

This is the actual reality:

bjsm.bmj.com/content/51/15/1111

www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k2139