The Science Of Fighting Fat

Has good dining taken its toll on your waistline? We navigate through the minefield of misinformation to find out what the experts really say about losing weight. And we have smart tips on how to shed that spare tyre

- Simon Crompton

THE statistics tell their own story. One in four people in England is now classified as obese, compared with one in six in the 1990s. Fifty-eight per cent of women and 68 per cent of men are now overweight.

Being overweight makes us less healthy: a new study published in Lancet Public Health shows a clear relationship between hospital admissions and body weight. But it also matters because being overweight makes many people unhappy.

A British Social Attitudes survey revealed that people who are overweight suffer significant stigma, and that 53 per cent of the British public are intolerant, believing that most overweight people could lose weight if they tried. But the science shows that it’s not simply a matter of being weak-willed.

“There are very clear reward pathways for food in the brain, and so, if something is rewarding and constantly available, why wouldn’t you?” explains Prof Susan Jebb, a nutrition scientist at Oxford University. “In our busy and stressed lives, you have to make a constant conscious effort to say no.”