First national obesity campaign launches in UK

The health service is struggling to cope with the strain Obesity Management Association (OMA) and foodadvisors.co.uk will on Wednesday launch their first UK national campaign, "My Weight, My Future". The campaign will highlight the rapid rise in obesity and call for urgent action from individuals, parents and families before the National Health Service buckles under the pressure. The campaign will seek to change public attitudes towards obesity, urging everyone to take responsibility for themselves and their families. It sets a challenge to the nation to ‘Know My BMI,’ arguing that every person should know their own Body Mass Index and that of each member of their family, measuring it at least once every three months. The corresponding #knowmybmi Twitter handle goes live today. The UK has one of the highest rates of obesity in Europe, with one in four adults and a third of eleven year olds classified as obese. Obesity already costs the NHS in excess of £5 billion a year and in this difficult economic climate, the health service is struggling to cope with the strain. In England, 24 percent of men and 26 percent of women are obese, while 65 percent of men and 58 percent of women are either overweight or obese, according to the latest Health Survey for England.