According to the deputy city manager, Vantaa has become aware of the problem of immobility.
Obesity is more common in the welfare area of Vantaa and Kerava compared to the whole country and Helsinki, and the obesity of women in that welfare area has increased.
This is stated in Vantaa’s recent well-being survey.
27.2 percent of Vantaa women and 23.5 percent of men are classified as obese based on the BMI, or weight-height index. The results are based on THL’s Terve Suomi survey. If a person’s body mass index is over 30, they are classified as obese according to THL.
Why has the well-being review been divided into fat municipal residents based on the reported body mass index?
– We have lifted these terms directly from the terms used by THL, Deputy Mayor of Vantaa Riikka Åstrand tells.
According to Åstrand, Vantaa’s Wellbeing Review is based on studies and reports made by other parties, from which the city makes a summary report.
Helsingin Sanomat previously reported on Vantaa’s welfare review.
Immobility struck
According to the deputy city manager, Vantaa has become aware of the problem of immobility.
The city already started lifestyle guidance in 2020, which can be accessed based on the assessment of healthcare professionals. The provision of nutritional advice started last year.
Corona has probably influenced the fact that the citizens of the municipality move less than before.
– I have heard messages from our various services that many people stopped their regular hobby during the corona and have not returned, says Åstrand.
26.6 percent of women in Vantaa do not think they sleep enough. Mostphotos
As one of the innovations in exercise, he mentions the addition of virtual aqua aerobics screens to swimming pools, so that visitors could practice aqua aerobics at a time that suits them without paying a separate fee.
– Swimming pools are definitely our most popular exercise places, and during the corona period, for example, their closure probably received the most feedback. In general, however, swimming is possible for almost everyone if, for example, you are more overweight.
Lifestyle management does not require a specific body mass index
It is difficult to assess a certain reason for the increased obesity of the people of Vantaa, says the project coordinator Taru Patrikainenwho works in the Well-being report as familiar and healthy nutrition as a habit project in Vantaa.
– It was also noticeable that the proportion of women who did not sleep enough had also increased in the Vantaa and Kerava welfare areas. What does it say, cause-and-effect relationships are difficult to assess, says Patrikainen.
In order to get lifestyle guidance in Vantaa, it is not necessary to have a certain body mass index or a disease, but it is enough that a person has some risk factor for lifestyle diseases.
– The background may be, for example, too little exercise or bad eating habits.
According to Patrikainen, BMI alone is in no case a sufficient measure for assessing obesity.
– It’s just one number that tells about the relationship between weight and height. Well-being and health are affected by many things. Our lifestyle guidance also strives to ensure that it is not weight-focused, he says.
THL: “The future looks worse”
Director of the Healthy Finland study Annamarie Lundqvist says that THL also uses the waist circumference to measure obesity, which tells especially about the harmful fat accumulated in the abdominal cavity.
According to Lundqvist, BMI is used because it is an internationally used and reliable measure that predicts the increased risk of several diseases.
– In addition, it is significantly easier (meter). On average, people know their height and weight better than their waist length. Measuring the waist at the right place is actually quite challenging, says Lundqvist.
At the population level, the body mass index is a good indicator, according to the researcher.
– If we look at the obesity trend of the entire population, it seems to be accelerating all the time. Illnesses tend to come a little behind, that is, a person has time to be fat for a while before falling ill with, for example, diabetes.
More than 600 people from Vantaa have started lifestyle guidance so far. Illustration image. Mostphotos
According to the morbidity index, people living in the welfare area of Vantaa and Kerava are healthier than average compared to the rest of the country.
According to Lundqvist, the index is based on registry data about what diseases people have had in the past. A lot of information is from 1-2 years ago.
– I think that this at least partly explains the fact that in the coming years we will be paying the debt for gaining weight. Unfortunately, the future looks worse.
Obesity is monitored like other diseases
THL’s Lundqvist is a good question about why Vantaa suffers more from obesity than in Helsinki, where according to the survey, the percentage of obese people is 19.3 percent. He cannot assess why this is so.
– The root cause of obesity is that we eat more and more calorie-rich food than we consume.
A low socio-economic status is connected to obesity, and money can be spent on sports, for example.
What do you think about the fact that in the city’s reports there is a division of municipal residents into obese and non-obese, which is based on the information provided by the municipal residents themselves?
– I think that obesity is a disease just like many other diseases. I wouldn’t want to talk about fat people myself, but I would talk about people who have obesity. Few fat people have chosen that they want to be fat, says Lundqvist.
For the researcher, it is important that the proportion of obese residents is reported, as is the case with other diseases.
– It is one important group that would need help and support for weight control. It is terribly important and wise that this is followed.
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