Brighton & Hove outperforms national average on obesity

Commenting on the latest obesity figures, Brighton & Hove City Council Public Health Commissioner for Healthy Weight David Brindley, said:

“In Brighton & Hove we’re working hard with our partners such as Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, Albion in the Community and GPs to help and advise people who are overweight on how to stay within healthy limits.  

“Key factors in helping stay within healthy weights include healthy eating and regular exercise so we proactively work as a city on both important areas.

“This work includes practical demonstrations at supermarkets as part of the national Smart Swaps initiative, which shows residents how to swap sugar and fatty ingredients out of foods and make tasty meals, as well as the Take Part international festival to encourage people to try different sports.  For example this Saturday the council’s Sports Development Team will be offering shoppers at Churchill Square taster sessions and demonstrations such as Zumba dance as part of its Get Active for 2014 drive.

“Obesity is one of the biggest crises that we face as a nation and thanks to citywide hard work Brighton & Hove residents are some of the healthiest on average in England. But the country still has the worst rates of obesity in Europe and it’s still a major problem in our city so we would urge residents concerned about their weight to make use of the many free services across the city and contact the Healthy Weight Team on 01273 431703 to find out what’s available locally.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

New statistics from Public Health England show that Brighton & Hove has the lowest figure in the South East at 49.2% of adults overweight or obese. Significantly lower than England 63.8% and the South East 63.1%.

Looking across England the city has the 5th best rate of 152 local authorities (behind only Kensington and Chelsea (45.9%), Tower Hamlets (47.2%), Richmond upon Thames (47.6%) and Hackney (48.7%))

The denominator for Brighton & Hove was 714 adults with valid height and weight recorded (more detail about the measure below the chart but its self reported in the survey and then adjusted for known under-response by age and gender from comparison with the HSE)

Data available in the PHOF data tool www.phoutcomes.info

For more info on Get Active 2014 http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/press-release/get-active-2014