Belgians average in obesity study

24 April 2007

BRUSSELS – More than 40 percent of Belgian women are overweight. The situation is even worse for Belgian men: just over 60 percent of them have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or higher, indicating that they are too heavy. This has emerged from a European-wide study by the International Association for the Study of Obesity.
But it could be worse. German men and women for instance are the heaviest in the European Union. Some 75 percent of German men are overweight, and almost 60 percent of women.

Annelies Mullens, endocrinologist at the Virga-Jesse hospital and affiliated with the obesity clinic, says it is no surprise that Belgian women fared better in the study than men. “They pay more attention to their weight than men do. 80 percent of the people who come to the hospital for consultation on this matter are women.”

Mullens warns that Belgians should not consider it an achievement that they come in average in Europe with regard to obesity.

Subject: Belgian news