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

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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

I know it is a difficult issue but if we will have very little money next year for the NHS and most of us facing much higher taxes never mind the new 1 - 2m out of work, very difficult choices about the NHS will have to be made and sadly obesity and resultant diabetes are almost breaking the NHS as it stands. It cannot really go on like this.

Perhaps the government should revise its views on what sort of food we should be eating then? So many people are overweight because they're following government guidelines about eating mostly carbs and very little fat. When in fact, the evidence is showing us that this isn't working.

We could do more as a country eating healthy can be so expensive and all the kids being brought up in poverty don't stand a chance.

So many people are overweight because they're following government guidelines about eating mostly carbs and very little fat

I think if you followed the NHS weight loss plan to the letter it would be very hard not to lose weight.

I lost a stone earlier in the year after having what my gp suspected was covid 19. I barely ate anything for 10 days, then all I could face was toast and marmite for a week. Lost 10lbs, then ate far, far less than normal for a further fortnight.

I wouldn't wish my illness on anyone, but clearly eating less calories made me lose weight. Even though those calories came from bread!

Sorry but you arent going to be able to pass the blame on to poorer/overweight people this time Its not 2008!

Why does everyone on this forum always assume that rich people are always thin. Some of the richest and most successful people I know are obese and they are that way because quite simply they enjoy a life of luxury and choose not to exercise.

I was overweight as a teenager, and obese in my 20s. I'd tried a few things like keto which I hated and couldn't keep the weight off. I started to accept a lot of the defeatist nonsense about "diets don't work!" and "you'll just gain it back anyway!"

When I turned 30, I decided I wanted to do something about it. My BMI was 39.5. I started counting calories, stopped snacking, started exercising. Progress was slow, but over 4 years I lost almost 100lbs. My BMI went down to 23.3. I'm now nearly 40, and my BMI's never gone back above 24.

The government could do a lot to encourage healthy eating and exercise for the population. But for individuals, for almost everyone it's as simple as eating less and exercising more.

It was slow progress, but I feel so much better - and I'm glad I've reduced my risk of so many health conditions.

helenadove do you think you could stop making direct personal attacks and abusing people? Thanks.

@Gwenhwyfar There was lots of resistance to introducing seat belt legislation and making it compulsory to wear helmets when riding a motorbike. Dis not stop us doing them.

And 40% of people aged 40-59 are obese. A lot of people.

As others have said, being a very high bmi often carries with it a host of , much like those of us with a very low bmi. But that increased risk of complications can be true for any kind of infection.

God, I should know better than read threads like these, full of the usual ignorance and prejudice, it makes for awful, depressing reading, all the way down to women let themselves go after they marry (or is that just Italian ones

Yes Bit racist.

DM is Italian and tiny. She is 84 Still fits into a vintage dressing gown shes had since 1960.

The coronavirus board has become like AIBU.

I have lipodema So my legs are quite large. Inherited from my British grandmother.

Have they thought to do any research about how women with this condition are affected?

Cant help noticing that some of the posters on here who self identify as feminists havent thought of this!

eating healthy can be so expensive

It can be. It can also be dirt cheap though. Assuming you have an oven and tray, the only difference between deep fried chips and baked wedges is knowledge and effort.

@Tatietata Yes it is eating less. The same as the solution to giving up cigarettes is to stop smoking them. But we recognise that most people find it hard to give up smoking so there is all kind of help. Harder to lose weight as you can't stop eating altogether.

Isn't there plenty of help for those who want to lose weight? I don't remember ever buying a womens magazine which didnt have diets and low calorie meal ideas in it?

It's bad enough for people to be over weight ... they don't need the bloody virus as well :(

Apparently vitamin D was deficient in a high proportion of those seriously affected. My own personal experience is that vit D plays a role in metabolic regulation to ensure people don't get fat.

Just underscores the importance of exercise, diet and proper vitamin and mineral levels.

Go on a bike ride. Go in the sun a bit with no sunscreen. Take vit d 3 1000 iu every day. Vitamin D even makes your appetite drop.

All the above do-able for a lot of people in lockdown. Not all, unfortunately but a lot.

You mustn't say things like this. Then people can't blame Boris for the death toll

They can. The media are already starting to talk about how poor people are worse affected whereas all the horrid rich tory voters are fine in their big houses with expensive food

Gosh yes @Querlouse I SO agree.

All those poor overweight people who kept getting on flights to ski trips to Northern Italy AFTER the virus had already been well publicised.
All those poor overweight people who kept boarding cruise ships AFTER the virus had already been well publicised.

All those poor overweight people who drove to second homes. AFTER the virus had already been well publicised.

As usual in Toryland personal responsibility is only for the poor? Whats the matter? Did you have to cancel a holiday?

Would be great to get more excersise But im guessing those in more affluent areas dont get told by a police officer that they cant stand in their own garden.

Sorry but you arent going to be able to pass the blame on to poorer/overweight people this time Its not 2008

Nice to read the post again without the totally unnecessary personal attack helenadove

OMG Now @Querlouse is advocating getting advice from Closer/ Grazia and Heat.

@Querlouse You really think a diet is advice? Most fat people have lost weight lots of times. It is keeping it off that is the issue.

Not really, but they are probably just as helpful as the giving up fags advice (ie not at all unless you have the willpower to do it!)

I think when people talk about how sensible people were about snacking in the past they forget that people might not have been reaching for kitkats as much, but they were often reaching for cigarettes instead!. There's been nearly a 30% decline in lung cancer rates since '91. People were just dying prematurely of different things. Average life expectancy has gone up by 6 years since then

Querlouse you need the emotional support too . A magazine does sod all in as much as a self help book won’t really help you with depression .

You need your family/partner to get on board to some extent, encouragement ... otherwise you kind of think what’s the point? I don’t care very much about me at all (kind of the problem I guess) .

I always try to remember a psychiatrist said to me, a flower won’t bloom without careful gardening . It needs sunshine, fresh air, the right soil, to be planted in the right place, etc - and even then, it will be months of work before you see the petals . Said same applies to weight loss - needs to be the right time, right support, right circumstances, and a great deal of hard work and patience .

There is lots of support for all kind of potentially harming lifestyle choices, from smoking, gambling, porn addiction and being obese, the list goes on.
If people wont accept they have a problem or choose an alternative its not going to work is it.
By all means carry on if you have identified the risk associated and then carried on, but justifying it means you accept it and are not ready to deal with the whole issue and its many facets.
My step daughter is very overweight, she asked me for support and she come up with a reason/ excuse for everything I suggested/ supported her with. She just didnt want to make changes, succeed or have any discomfort. It was her personal responsibility.

Yes I know magazine articles don't work. I was saying that there is as much advixe as there is about giving up smoking. Both really hard to do without emotional support and willpower.

I'm overweight and this is exactly why I'm trying to do some form of exercise every day, even if it's just walking.

If people really, really want to lose weight they can. People do manage it, it isn't a life sentence. It is probably easier than giving up smoking - smoking is physically and addictive and you have to give up smoking completely as there's no alternative other than patches and vaping which have limited success. At least with food you can actually still eat, and nice things too, and lose weight.