Prevalence of obesity is low in people who do not eat meat

BMJ 1996;313:816-817 (28 September)

Letters

Prevalence of obesity is low in people who do not eat meat

EDITOR,--Britain is failing to meet targets that have been setfor reducing obesity.¹ One of the aims of the Health of theNation strategy is to reduce the percentages of men and womenwho are obese to 6% and 8%, respectively, by 2005,² but theHealth Survey for England 1994 shows that the prevalence ofobesity had increased to 13.2% among men and 16.0% among womenby 1994.³ This increase is probably partly due to a reductionin physical activity; the importance of the composition of thediet is not clear.⁴

We used data collected for the European prospective investigationinto cancer and nutrition to examine the relation of obesitywith meat consumption.⁵ A total of 3947 men and 17 158 womenaged >/=20 were recruited during 1994 and 1995 through vegetarianand health food societies, shops, and magazines. Subjects wereclassified as meat eaters if they ate any meat, . . . [Full text of this article]

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Britain is failing to meet targets on reducing obesity: S J Louise Smith
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