Ministers must act on stark warnings in health survey

4.19.18pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 29th Sep 2009

Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Ross Finnie MSP has urged the Scottish Government to act on the findings from the 2008 Health Survey published today, which suggest that Scotland is heading for an obesity crisis.

The majority of adults were found to be overweight or obese. But the true scale of the obesity timebomb can be found in the statistics showing that over 36 % of boys and almost 27% of girls are overweight or obese with 9 % of these boys and almost 7% of these girls morbidly obese. Even the youngest children are affected, with 3% of boys and over 5 % of girls aged just 2-6 morbidly obese.

Commenting, Mr Finnie said:

“As Liberal Democrats have been warning for a long time, Scotland is heading for an obesity crisis. A totally unacceptable number of children are overweight and some of our youngest children are already morbidly obese.

“Ministers don’t need to look too far through this survey to find out why. Scots aren’t eating properly and we’re not taking enough exercise. Adults aren’t achieving exercise targets and everybody knows about the chaos surrounding the Government’s P.E targets for children.

“Enough is enough. Ministers have a duty to act on these stark warnings.

"The health of the nation hangs in the balance.”