Modern lifestyle main cause of obesity: experts

Weight gain does not result from people’s actions—such as over-indulgence or laziness— alone, and is a far more passive phenomenon than is often assumed, according to Foresight.

It found that the technological revolution of the 20th century has led to weight gain becoming unavoidable for the majority of the population, because our bodies and biological make-up are out of step with our surroundings.

“Stocking up on food was key to survival in pre-historic times, but now with energy dense, cheap foods, labour-saving devices, motorised transport and sedentary work, obesity is rapidly becoming a consequence of modern life,” said David King, the British government’s chief scientific adviser and head of the

Foresight program.

The British department of health-sponsored project is the result of a two-year-long study into the causes of obesity involving almost 250 experts and scientists. They predicted that the obesity ‘epidemic’ would take at least 30 years to reverse.

The government, has, up until now, focused policy designed to tackle obesity on encouraging people, particularly children, to lead a healthier lifestyle, eating less fattening foods and taking more exercise. While David said a wholesale change in attitudes towards obesity is required to address the problem. “Foresight, has, for the first time, drawn together complex evidence to show that we must fight the notion that the current obesity epidemic arises from individual over-indulgence or laziness alone,” he said.

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