Obesity is such a threat to women it should be treated as a "national risk" – like terrorism, natural disasters and cyber attacks, one of the country’s most senior advisers on health has warned.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, England’s first female Chief Medical Officer (CMO), said in her report for 2014 that action is needed across all sections of society to “empower women and their families to live healthier lives”. She added that women who were obese during pregnancy were putting the health of future generations at risk.

The CMO’s report for 2014, which for the first time focuses specifically on the health of England’s female population, recommends the Government include obesity in its national risk planning. The government’s current risk register of civil emergencies includes terrorist attacks, natural disasters, cyber attacks and outbreaks of disease such as a flu pandemic.

The report also reveals that, in 2013, more than half (54%) of women aged 34 to 44 and almost two-thirds of women (62%) aged 45 to 54 were classified as overweight or obese.

bbabo.Net