The Daily Mail has announced that the NHS is investing millions of pounds into equipment designed for patients suffering from obesity.
The statistics which were declared by the Conservatives using the laws for freedom of information reveal that the health service has spent just under £45 million to purchase equipment for treatment and transportation of obese patients.
The number of individuals in the UK who are medically obese and are in need of weight treatment has forced the national health provider to invest in reinforced beds, ambulance units and hoists.
Andrew Lansley, health spokesman for the Conservatives defined weight problems as “one of the greatest public health threats”.
According to the Daily Mail, the spokesman claimed that the current government has been passive regarding the issue and confirmed that, if elected, a Conservative government would take more measures to control financial investments in obesity treatment.
Recent studies conducted by government-funded programmes have revealed that nearly one in four children already has a weight condition when starting primary school.
A new study reports that changes in lifestyle and behaviour are significant for successful results in any kind of obesity treatment.
The research reveals that patients who suffered from obesity and shifted weight by maintaining a healthy diet and a physical excercise routine has the same rates of success in keeping the weight normal in the long run as people who chose to undergo surgery to get rid of excessive weight.
However, individuals who had been obese and decided to shift weight naturally had to work more to keep losing weight than patients who had plastic surgery.
Dr Dale Bond of the Miriam Hospital’s Centres for Behavioural and Preventive Medicine who conducted the research claims that changes in the patients‘ lifestyle are “critical components to long-term weight loss maintenance”.
He explained: “Our findings suggest that it’s possible to maintain large weight losses through intensive behavioural efforts, such as changing your approach to eating and exercise, regardless of whether you lost weight with bariatric surgery or through non-surgical methods.”
The results of the research were published in the International Journal of Obesity. Similar studies bear importance to a high percentage of the British population, since a recent research funded by the government and carried out by Foresight estimated that 22 per cent of male and 24 per cent of female respondents qualified for obesity treatment.
