For years, Maltese men and women have been pinpointed as being among the fattest in the world, with bad eating habits and lack of exercise being the primary causes.
Our children are also amongst the fattest, with their being registered as being just behind the US and the UK. But in a report yesterday, issued by influential medical journal The Lancet, Maltese men were branded to be the laziest on the planet, with our women not being far behind.
Let us put it into context – the laziest meaning those who do not get enough physical exercise. Physical inactivity was defined by those compiling the report as failing to engage in exercise in 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity five times a week, 20 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity three times a week or an equivalent combination of exercise.
Less than a third of the world’s population – 31.1% to be exact – falls under the definition, according to the report’s data. But the rate goes up to a staggering 71.9% in Malta, the highest rate recorded. Swaziland comes second with a rate of 69%, followed by Saudi Arabia at 68.8% and Serbia and Argentina at 68.3%.
Bangladesh was found to be the most physically active country of the 122 included in the study, with an inactivity rate of just 4.7%. Surprisingly, perhaps, the best-performing European country is Greece, where a physical inactivity rate of 15.6% is reported.
The gap between the world’s average and Malta’s state of affairs is perhaps best described when the authors said that eliminating physical inactivity would increase global life expectancy by around 0.68 years, and Malta’s by around 1.12 years. Just 15-30 minutes of brisk walking a day would bring substantial health benefits, they said.
As the headline of this leading article suggests, the study just confirms what we already know. We are an obese and sedentary people. We can make excuses about genes, but the figures do not lie. We do not exercise enough, we eat badly and feed our kids badly. Of course, the same does not hold true for each and every person and family, but something must be done. We can embark on as many education campaigns as we like, but at the end of the day, it is up to people themselves. Perhaps it is time for the government to really focus on the Healthy Weight for Life strategy. This should include a lot more physical activity at school level and a real incentive for people to engage in sport.
Obesity and inactivity are set to become the leading killers in the world and we are not looking very healthy at all. We must change now, else we will have an epidemic on our hands… we might already.