The National Institutes of Health Policy Report published on Wednesday, 4 Teves 5779, reveals that 62% of men and 52% of women in Israel are obese, as per date pertaining to 2017.

More than half of Israel’s adults are overweight and obese, according to data published by Ynet, based on data collected from four Kupot Cholim, Israeli HMOs – Clalit, Maccabi, Meuchedet and Leumi.

About 62% of men and 53% of women aged 20-64 are overweight or obese. Interestingly, with men, there does not appear to be a connection with obesity and one’s socio-economic status, while among women, the better the socio-economic situation, the greater the weight loss.

In comparison to obese adults, the data indicate an improvement in childhood obesity: in the year 2017, 7.1% of children aged seven were obese, compared to 7.6% in 2016 and 8.1% in 2015. The data showed that 77% of the girls and 76% of the boys had a normal weight. For boys in a low socio-economic ranking, almost twice as much weight was measured as in children with a high socio-economic ranking. The girls recorded an even greater gap.

“This section sharpens the issue of food insecurity among children in a low socio-economic situation and requires complex solutions that involve the welfare system as well,” says the report’s editor, Prof. Ronit Calderon-Margalit.

The report also confirms the decline in the number of smokers, revealing that 19.2% of Israelis aged 16-74 smoke: 26.6% of men and 12.1% of women.

This has been a continuous decline for a number of years, but the figure is still higher than the OECD average of 18.4%.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)