| The UK government has recently been heading a | | | | The implications to the health of an obese individual are |
| campaign to make Britain a healthier nation. | | | | well documented. |
| Addressing general health and preventative medicine, | | | | At the other end of the scale is another growing UK |
| the Prime Minister has promised every adult in the UK | | | | health problem; that of our obsession with thinness. |
| will receive a free health MOT. Screening for | | | | Celebrities have been condemned for their public |
| conditions such as heart disease and diabetes will be | | | | portrayal that being an ultra thin size 0 is the only way |
| among the tests and will be phased in over the next | | | | to be pretty and worthy. This vanity has now reached |
| few years. | | | | a pinnacle with a new camera on the market that can |
| Screening for vascular disease, which is the primary | | | | make you look between 5 and 15lbs thinner than you |
| cause of heart failure and strokes affecting 6.2 million | | | | really are. |
| people and bringing about the death of 200,000 of | | | | Life insurance companies have a set scale from the |
| those per year, will begin in the over 60's later this | | | | British Medical Association that determines a healthy |
| year. This effectively brings the benefits of private | | | | weight range but many people, whether obese or |
| health care into the public domain. | | | | anorexic, are falling outside of these guidelines, |
| Blood pressure, cholesterol levels and Body Mass | | | | increasing their life insurance premiums. |
| Index tests are among the few moves that the | | | | One of the problems associated with anorexia is the |
| government can make widely available so that we | | | | effect it can have on one's mental capacity. To starve |
| have more control over which direction our health is | | | | the brain of the nutrients it needs leads to irrational |
| taking as opposed to trying to fix it after it's broken. | | | | thinking and a distorted view of one's life and the world |
| This is good news for life insurance companies. They | | | | around. This health defect was once associated with |
| will be better able to assess our risks, which will reduce | | | | the aged but recent research shows this is not so. |
| the premiums for healthier people. | | | | In tests on the older generation , it was found that |
| Unfortunately, for those at risk, it will increase life | | | | mathematical skills of years ago were unchanged and |
| insurance premiums but hopefully encourage all of us | | | | verbal skills actually improved with age. Throughout life, |
| to follow a more responsible lifestyle. | | | | the brain develops and finds new ways of describing |
| In further moves to increase the nation's health, a ban | | | | and coping with life changes. This is thought to over |
| on junk food advertising aimed at the under 16's has | | | | ride the loss of brain cells that also occur with age. |
| been put in place. Campaigners have said this is not | | | | This was well and truly proved by the 89 year old |
| enough and are calling for a total ban. | | | | grandfather who recently gained a degree in sociology. |
| Media reports say that three quarters of us are | | | | The old adage that you can't teach an old dog new |
| concerned about our health and weight. This discovery | | | | tricks is obviously not so. |
| was made in a poll that came one day after | | | | So, to keep life insurance premiums done we would do |
| McDonalds announced growth rates close to their | | | | well to consider the results of medical tests to keep |
| 1980's peak, resulting from 88 million visits to their | | | | our health at an optimum for longer, cheaper life and |
| outlets in just one month. | | | | remember that to have use of our full brain capacity, |
| Obesity levels in Britain now outweigh those of the US | | | | we should use it or lose it. |
| and are a major concern to life insurance companies. | | | | |