Scots are 'heavier and fatter than they were ten years ago' says study

Weight: Study found that BMI has increased, but muscle mass is down.

Scots have become heavier and fatter in the last ten years, according to a new study.

The average Scottish waistline has stretched between 1998 and 2008 researchers at Glasgow University have found.

Professor Mike Lean and colleagues in the School of Medicine also suggests that muscle mass is falling.

The researchers compared data from the Scottish Health Surveys from 1998, 2003, 2008 and concluded that people were heavier and fatter in 2003 than in 1998, with a less marked increase between 2003 and 2008. There were proportionally greater increases in waist circumference than in body mass index (BMI), especially in older women.

Over the period, men’s BMI increased from an average of 26.9 to 28 while women’s was up more modestly, from 26.7 to 27.5. However, the average man’s waist circumference grew from 37in to 39in, while the average woman’s had expanded from 32.5in to 35in.

Professor Lean said: "Our results demonstrate striking increases in both BMI and waist circumference over a 10-year period in the population as a whole, and among people at almost every age. The changes are most marked among women: women now have waists 8-10cm bigger than women of the same age ten years ago, while men have waists 5-7cm bigger.

"The data suggest a disproportionate increase in body fat, compared with muscle, at all ages, but particularly among older women.

"The patterns indicate substantial increases in body fat, relative to muscle, or an exaggerated shift towards more central fat distribution. These changes appear to continue in older age-groups than in the past. They herald loss of physical capacity and also metabolic decline, with even more diabetes. Whichever of these is responsible, and whatever the socioeconomic and behavioural influences, this shift in body composition is likely to herald poorer health."

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