An increase in the rates of overweight and obese people in Israel, especially among women and children

An increase in the rates of overweight and obese people in Israel, especially among women and children. This is according to a report of the national program for quality indicators for community medicine for 2021 that is published today.
The report indicates that in 2021 there was an increase in the obesity rate among teenagers. About 12% of the 14-15 year olds suffered from obesity, compared to about 10% in 2017. An increase in obesity was also noted among 7-year-old children. The researchers note that the obesity rate among boys of socio-economic status A low economy is almost 2 times higher than children of the same age from a high class. The report also shows that more than 39% of Israeli men are overweight compared to about 30% of women. The researchers point out that about 59% of the adult population in Israel between the ages of 20 and 64 suffer from overweight and obesity and that obesity among women is also on the rise and its rate is about a quarter of women in Israel at these ages.
Obesity rates in women are about 2 times higher in the lowest stratum compared to the highest.
The report also shows that there has been an increase in the rate of smokers in Israel and that almost every third man smokes. According to the data, in 2021 28.9% of men and 13.4% of women smoke. Men from a low socioeconomic status smoke almost twice as much as men from a socioeconomic status high (35.3% vs. 18.1% respectively).
Against the background of the intention to cancel the tax on sugary drinks, the researchers publish data according to which one in ten people in Israel suffers from diabetes and that higher morbidity rates were recorded among populations of lower socioeconomic status: 23.7% compared to 16.4% among men and 24.2% compared to 11.1% among women.
The sugar level in the body of men from a high socioeconomic status was almost three times more balanced than men from a low socioeconomic status and was about 15% compared to 5.5%. Among women, this rate was about 12% among women of high socioeconomic status compared to 4.5% among women of low status.
Prof. Ronit Calderon-Margalit from the Hadassah School of Public Health and the Hebrew University, who heads the directorate of the National Program for Quality Indicators, said that the indicators program points to the deepening of social gaps, which are reflected in the performance of tests for the early detection of breast cancer, teenage obesity, in children's visits Diabetic patients in dedicated clinics and anemia in babies, which is on a downward trend mainly in children from high socioeconomic strata. Deep social gaps were also found in the performance of tests for the early detection of cervical cancer and in balancing diabetes. She added that in 2021 there was a significant increase in obesity rates and the number of smokers, as well as an increase in obesity Among young children at the age of 7, a trend change that has not been seen before that is probably due to the corona epidemic.