Obesity now a bigger killer of Scots than smoking

Data from sceientists at Glasgow University shows obesity is linked to more deaths in Scotland that smoking.

Research published in the BMC Public Health journal analysed data collected between 2003 and 2017 as part of the Health Surveys for England and Scottish Health Surveys of 192,239 adults. The respondents were 50 years old on average.

The team found that between 2003 and 2017, deaths attributable to smoking decreased from 23.1% to 19.4%.

In the same period, deaths attributed to obesity and excess body fat have increased from 17.9% to 23.1%, with the overtake occurring in 2014.

2014 was crossover point

Jill Pell, who was one of the authors of the article, said: "For several decades smoking has been a major target of public health interventions as it is a leading cause of avoidable deaths.

"As a result, the prevalence of smoking has fallen in the UK. At the same time the prevalence of obesity has increased.

"Our research indicates that, since 2014, obesity and excess body fat may have contributed to more deaths in England and Scotland than smoking.''

However, the researchers found that while obesity was likely to cause more deaths in older adults, smoking was still more likely to contribute to deaths in younger adults.

The data showed that among those aged 65 and over and 45-64 respectively, obesity and excess body fat contributed to 3.5% and 3.4% more estimated deaths than smoking in 2017.

However, in the 16-44 age group, smoking was 2.4% more likely to have contributed to deaths than obesity.

Researchers also found that there was a gender division in the statistics.

Obesity and excess body fat was likely to have accounted for 5.2% more deaths in 2017 than smoking in men, compared to 2.2%

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• Smoking
• obesity
• Glasgow University