Germany Obesity Update
Parliamentary commissioner: German soldiers too fat, smoke too much?
04 Mar 2008
Berlin – German soldiers are overweight, smoke too much and do not engage in enough sports, according to a report published Tuesday by the parliamentary commissioner for the defence force. “Male and female soldiers are too fat, partake little in sports and pay too little attention to what they eat,” Reinhold Robbe said in his official report to parliament. He called the situation “shocking.”
Berlin – German soldiers are overweight, smoke too much and do not engage in enough sports, according to a report published Tuesday by the parliamentary commissioner for the defence force. “Male and female soldiers are too fat, partake little in sports and pay too little attention to what they eat,” Reinhold Robbe said in his official report to parliament. He called the situation “shocking.”
In the 18-29 age-group, military personnel are in worse condition than their civilian counterparts, with 40 per cent of soldiers overweight against 35 per cent in the general population, according to Robbe.
Despite the widespread availability of sports equipment in the army, more than 20 per cent don’t engage in any sports at all.
Robbe also noted that an alarming 70 per cent of military personnel were smokers.
Germany to fight fat with EU presidency
Nov 17, 2006
Emma Ross-Thomas
Emma Ross-Thomas
Slimming European waistlines will be a priority of the German EU presidency with a focus on obesity in the lower income population, Germany’s deputy health chief said on Friday.
Amid World Health Organisation (WHO) forecasts that one in five adults in Europe and Central Asia could be obese by 2010, Berlin said the problem will be prominent on its health agenda when it takes over the rotating EU presidency in January.
“(Our aim is) to cut the trend, to reverse the trend and especially to reach people from lower income groups,” Marion Caspers-Merk, German parliamentary state secretary for health, told Reuters at the end of a WHO conference in Istanbul.
On Thursday European and Central Asian ministers agreed on a WHO-backed charter on fighting fat which included proposals to cut junk food advertising aimed at children, increase health education and make healthy food and exercise more affordable.
“The idea is (moving) from the charter, which has common targets where everybody can agree, to more concrete actions, and influencing the political process in the European U nion,” Caspers-Merk said.
Germany is organising a nutrition and exercise conference in February and will also share results of an extensive three-year, 17,000-participant study of children’s health.
The WHO estimates six percent of health costs in Europe and Central Asia are due to obesity, and if nothing is done to halt the trend — obesity has tripled in the last two decades — one in ten children will be obese by 2010.
Caspers-Merk said migrant groups in Germany were particularly susceptible to obesity and the challenge was to convince them, along with low earners, to improve their health.
Germany, where 15 percent of children are overweight and six percent obese, has addressed the issue before with programmes such as government-organised walks.
“The problem is that people of migrant backgrounds, people with low income normally don’t go to these events … they feel it is not their problem,” Caspers-Merk said.
The pattern repeats throughout the region, with obesity five times more prevalent in low income groups than among high earners in France, according to WHO data.
“The crucial point is how can we can get in touch with these people… and how can we close the gap of health inequality problems,” she said.
