Obesity is one of biggest risks to women’s health, says England’s chief medical officer

The UK government should add obesity to the national risk register to improve the health of women and the population as a whole, England’s chief medical officer has urged.

In her annual report for 2014, which focuses on women’s health, Sally Davies said that obesity was one of the biggest risks to women’s health and subsequently had a major effect on the health of those women’s children and grandchildren.1

The report said that 54% of women aged 34-44 and 62% of women aged 45-54 in England were classified as overweight or obese in 2013. Davies said that the problem was so serious that obesity should be included in national risk plans across government, which would place it alongside high risk areas such as terrorism and …