London - Worrying numbers of people are deluding themselves about their weight, researchers say.
A startling proportion of the overweight and obese are convinced they are perfectly healthy, according to public health experts.
The data, gathered from 14 000 people in seven European countries, appears to support the growing theory that obesity has become “normalised”.
As more and more people pile on the kilos it has become socially acceptable to be obese, experts warn.
The figures, gathered by the European Association for the Study of Obesity and strategy firm Opinium, suggest that 21 percent – one in five – of overweight people in Britain mistakenly believe they are of a healthy weight, compared to 16 percent in France and 10 percent in Italy.
And 36 percent – more than one in three – of Britons who are clinically obese think they are merely overweight, compared to 28 percent in France and 18 percent in Italy.
The researchers found that overweight and obese people from Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Finland are also in denial about their weight. But their results suggest that Britons are among the most ignorant in Europe about the health impacts of obesity. Only 18 percent think obesity is a disease – the lowest figure out of the seven countries surveyed.
Professor Pinki Sahota of Leeds Beckett University, deputy chairman of the Association for the Study of Obesity, said: “Obesity is one of the fastest growing threats to the health and wellbeing of our society. And yet this survey shows that many people still appear to have little understanding of what equals a healthy weight.”
Daily Mail