Growing obesity Germany is getting fatter

(dge) The number of overweight people continues to increase in Germany. 59% of men and 37% of women are overweight. In the age group of working people, the fatness is so widespread nowadays that it no longer represents an exception, but is the normal state. Men are particularly often too fat: at the end of their working life, 74.2% are overweight. For women of the same age, 56.3%. There is a positive trend in children who start school: in this age group, the incidence of obesity has stagnated or even declined slightly in recent years. These figures were published by the DGE in its 13th Nutrition Report, which was published in a. based on data from the microcensus of the Federal Statistical Office.

"The reasons for obesity have been known for a long time," says Prof. Helmut Heseker, former President of the DGE, who edited the topic for the 13th DGE Nutrition Report. "Many people in Germany eat too many high-energy foods and move too little. Inexpensive and tasty foods and drinks with high energy content are available almost everywhere - whether at home or on the road. And these factors make it difficult to maintain normal weight. "The DGE stresses the urgent need for action to overcome this societal problem and makes clear that in the future, enormous efforts will be needed to halt or reverse the obesity epidemic.

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Pounds come earlier in the men
According to microcensus data, men gain significantly more weight with age than women. Between 18 and 40 years, this is on average almost 11 kg. The normal-weight man is already in the minority from the age of 30 to 35 years. Men are more often overweight than women in all age groups. In women, the weight gain is less pronounced: Only over 55 years dominate the overweight.

Overweight or obesity are classified by the Body Mass Index (BMI). Overweight serves as an umbrella term and refers to persons with a BMI ≥ 25, with a BMI ≥ 30 they are obese.

Thickness is getting thicker
Worrying is the increase in obesity. From 1999 to 2013, the proportion of obese men increased by 40% and of obese women by 24.2%. Obesity increased by 8.3% in men and 4.5% in women over the same period.

Obesity in the elderly
Also more and more older people are extremely fat. In the case of over-65s in particular, the number of persons with very high obesity (BMI ≥ 40) increased by 300% between 1999 and 2013 and 175% among women.

Positive: Obesity among freshmen slightly declining, preventive measures seem to be taking effect

In the 1990s to 2004, the proportion of overweight and obese children in the school enrollment phase increased significantly. Fortunately, the trend slowed or stagnated in the following years. In the meantime a decrease of the prevalence could be determined in nearly all federal states. Currently, the proportion of overweight children is between 8.2% and 12% depending on the state, of which between 2.8% and 5.3% are obese. The lowest proportion of overweight and obese children have Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. According to DGE, the increased perception of the problem and the associated nutritional measures could have contributed to this development. So a good ten years ago at local, regional and national level, numerous initiatives in the field of daycare and school catering started, such as the development and introduction of DGE quality standards. However, overweight numbers in childhood and adolescence are still at a high level and do not give rise to any all-clear - especially given the fact that extremely overweight children and adolescents continue to gain weight and therapeutic programs have limited effectiveness. (Pm)