A NEW European health report has revealed that Cypriots are the second biggest dieters in Europe, with 32 per cent of those surveyed admitting to having been on a diet over the past 12 months. This compares to 29 per cent in the UK, and mere 14 per cent in Turkey, which was the lowest of the countries surveyed.
The ‘Eurobarometer on Health, Food and Nutrition’ presented by the European Commission yesterday, shed light on the eating habits and attitudes to health of Europeans, interviewing nearly 30,000 people in the process.
EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner, Markos Kyprianou said, “This survey provides us with valuable insights into the concerns of the EU citizens on health and nutrition”.
The comprehensive 20 page questionnaire covered everything from how people perceive their own weight, (38 per cent of Europeans think their weight is too high), to how people feel their governments are dealing with health and nutrition, (85 per cent of people feel the authorities should play a stronger role in fighting obesity).
Kyprianou, himself a Cypriot, responded to the overwhelming perception that authorities should do more, pointing out that the report would allow the EU to come up with bilateral policies on how best to tackle the issue. “The Commission is planning to respond to this call by developing proposals for a European strategy on the issue next year,” said Kyprianou.
Parts of the report suggest the Cypriot preoccupation with dieting is for good reason. Cypriots walk less than any other people in Europe, strolling for only half the time of the average for European, and 41 per cent said that when they do walk they never walk for more than 10 minutes.
With a lack of walking comes a lot of sitting, with Cypriots sitting down for nearly an hour a day more than the average European.
The debate over the quality of school meals, which rages on in the UK primarily due to Jamie Oliver and his television programme, seems not to bother Cypriots, with only two per cent thinking that school food needs improving. This is despite 96 per cent of Cypriots thinking that there are more overweight children today than there were five years ago.
It is the endemic increase of obesity in children has led many to suggest that junk food should be stigmatised in a similar way that cigarettes have been over the past decade. Nine out of ten Europeans feel that marketing and advertising influence children in their food and drink choices, giving ammunition to those calling for a ban on such marketing.
Despite the seemingly lazy lifestyle that pervades Cyprus, Cypriots are about average in terms of their weight to height ratio, more commonly known as BMI (body mass index).
This is the figure that really counts, the BMI being the most accurate measurement of corpulence. The UK has an average BMI roughly the same as Cyprus, with Italy and France having the slimmest populations in Europe.
So who are the fattest people on the continent? That unenviable award goes to the citizens of Croatia, who showed an average BMI 12 points higher than that of Cyprus.
n The full report is available for public viewing on the EU Commissions website at www.europa.eu.int
