MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, March 28th 2024 - 20:28 UTC

 

 

Falklands' lifestyle reveals overweight, less smokers and little physical activity

Friday, December 20th 2019 - 09:29 UTC
Full article 8 comments

Nearly 600 residents have contributed to a major snapshot of health and lifestyle in the Falkland Islands. The Health and Lifestyle Survey 2019 has just been published by the Falkland Islands Government Public Health Unit. Read full article

Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • Jo Bloggs

    I think Carol really should have warned me there was a hidden camera in the room when she asked me to measure my waist.

    Dec 20th, 2019 - 07:49 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • DemonTree

    Why is it that the fattest countries all seem to be islands? Unhealthy imported diet?

    Dec 20th, 2019 - 08:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Roger Lorton

    I'm a natural :-)

    Dec 20th, 2019 - 10:19 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • Think

    Ain't that a shame...?
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xbfMlk1PwGU

    Dec 20th, 2019 - 11:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Jo Bloggs

    DT
    I can only really speak for myself but I don’t think the access to healthy food is entirely the issue. Whilst we don’t have the range of a larger country’s supermarket on our shelves I have no trouble buying lots of good fresh and frozen veg and plenty of fresh fruit. I also take a lot of exercise. I should add that I don’t really look anything like the fatso in the photo; undoubtedly just an online file photo. No doubt though, there are lots of people here who could lose a few stone.

    It seems our stats don’t vary too greatly from the UK’s though so I think we’re broadly in line with the trend that is affecting much of the West.

    Dec 21st, 2019 - 11:31 am - Link - Report abuse +1
  • DemonTree

    “our stats don’t vary too greatly from the UK's”

    The UK is an island too. ;)

    Maybe it doesn't really apply to the Falklands, but whenever you see lists of fattest countries there always seem to be a bunch of Pacific Islands at the top. Vegetables are available, but how does the price compare with junk food? Here there are vegetables that are cheap, but the trendy ones people prefer are imported from places like Chile and Namibia and are not for the budget concious.

    Dec 21st, 2019 - 01:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Jo Bloggs

    There is definitely a premium on the price of fresh produce here and junk food is likely considered cheaper. Increasingly our shelves are stacked with cheaper processed foods that are ‘convenient’ but I don’t think it’s as simple as cost because, like you say, the U.K. has cheap vegetables- despite more expensive exotic imports- but still people get drawn to the junk lines.

    I’m glad Carol has the task of looking into this though and I hope a national strategy may be able to encourage tangible differences to our average health levels. I’d start by heavily taxing foods that have too much sugar and bad fats and shift that revenue into subsidising freight rates and local production rates for healthy raw ingredients.

    Dec 21st, 2019 - 05:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • DemonTree

    Junk food mostly has a much longer shelf life than the fresh stuff, as well as being easier to transport, so not surprising shops prefer it, especially those with low turnover.
     
    Cheap vegetables have to be prepared and cooked, and few want to do that when you can just get convenience food. Meanwhile bagged salads and those little portions of cut up fruit are convenient, but also expensive and you can easily skip them and still feel full.

    “I’d start by heavily taxing foods that have too much sugar and bad fats and shift that revenue into subsidising freight rates and local production rates for healthy raw ingredients.”

    I think you'd get a lot of complaints if you did that, and IME most governments do the first part while ignoring the second. At least in the Falklands there are no farmers growing crops to lobby the government about keeping their subsidies.

    Dec 22nd, 2019 - 05:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!