Why obesity is an OH issue: Part 1

Part 1 looks at the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the UK

Summary:

In the first of a two-part feature on obesity, work and health, Howard Fidderman discusses the prevalence of overweight and obesity in UK adults and why it is an occupational health issue.

At the end of August 2024, the UK government announced that it would extend the NHS Health Check to 130,000 workers in building, hospitality, transport, social care and other sectors in England. In October 2024, the government announced a trial in greater Manchester of the use of weight-loss medicines to ‘help’ unemployed people with obesity back into employment. The initiative offers evidence that the government is increasingly looking to include workplaces and work in wider efforts to tackle obesity and associated coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. Obesity is also related to other physical and mental ill health, decreased wellbeing, sleep deprivation and issues around self-esteem, body image and quality of life…

Howard Fidderman is a former editor of Health and Safety Bulletin and co-author of Your health at work (Kogan Page/TUC).  

Author: Fidderman H

Tags obesity

Occupational Health at Work December/January 2024/2025 (vol. 21/4) pp18-21

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