Almost 20 million Italians lead
sedentary lives and the national obesity rate is up to 11.4% as
of last year, the fifth annual Italian Obesity Barometer Summit
heard Tuesday.
Only 5% eat the five portions of fruit and vegetables
recommended by the World Health Organization.
Some 54% of Italians weigh themselves monthly and 24% weekly,
the report said.
"Obesity is a very complex illness and if environmental factors
certainly have a great responsibility in the accumulation of
weight, the susceptibility to getting ill is given by genetic
and biological factors that can today be combatted with new and
innovative drugs within the framework of a multidisciplinary
approach," said Paolo Sbraccia, deputy vice president of the
Italian Barometer Diabetes Observatory.
"Italy is one of the countries with the lowest levels of
physical activity," said Roberta Crialesi, a director of the
integrated health service system of national statistics
institute Istat, saying "the problem gets worse the older you
get".
In fact, if 23.6% of 18-24-year-olds have sedentary lifestyles,
that rises to 67.2% of the over 74s.
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