Tackling Adult Obesity in Newham London Borough: Targeting Population Group 45-75

This assignment presents an understanding of the public health problem of adult obesity in Newham London Borough, targeting population group 45-75. It covers the determinants, consequences, and appropriate intervention measures to control and cure obesity. The focus is on addressing dietary behaviors and reducing sugar consumption in food and beverages. The population considered in this assignment is one in four adults of 45 and above age group in the Borough who are considered obese according to a report of NHS. The assignment also highlights the impact of socio-economic inequalities and ethnicity on obesity.

Adult obesity target
population group 45 to 75
Newham London borough

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
As per World Health Organisation health is a state of complete physical, mental and
social well being and not only absence of disease. Health of an individual is essential to live their
life to fullest. When a person adopts a healthy lifestyle, their body remains active and mind is
fresh. It is important as living a healthy life will result in longevity and regenerate both mind and
body. Healthy living helps an individual to enjoy all aspects of their life. Maintaining healthy
lifestyle provides individual to avoid diseases related to their physical health such as obesity.
Obesity means a complex disease comprises of enormous amount of body fat. It is a medical
issue that maximises risk of other diseases and more health problems such as heart disease, high
blood pressure, diabetes etc. Generally obesity is result of inheritance, environmental or
physiological elements mixed with diet and exercise choices. This issue is a major concern as
extra pounds in body often leads them on path of health problems like diabetes and high
cholesterol in early age. This can be measure if their body mass index for age distribution is
higher than 95 percent.
This assignment presents understanding of public health problem of obesity, its
determinants and defining the problems associated with it. It identifies what needs to be change
and appropriate measures to intervene. The assignment covers stakeholder engagement,
resources and input required to solve the problem of obesity and evaluation of necessary
measures with an appropriate action plan. The population that is considered in this assignment to
identify adult obesity in target population group ranges between 45 to 75 years. In Newham
London Borough adult obesity rates are third highest in the capital. One in four of adult of 45
and above age group in Borough are considered obese according to a report of NHS (Shaw,
2018). According to a survey around thousand people were diagnosed for obesity for every one
100,000 population in London Borough (Brooke, 2019).
Obesity is becoming one of the major serious public health issue where authorities are
making efforts to fight risk factors of obesity. Risk factors includes type 2 diabetes which occurs
when a person's blood glucose gets too high. High blood sugar leads to issues like heart diseases,
kidney problems, nerve damage etc. Another risk is increasing problem of sleep apnea where a
person finds it difficult to breathe properly while sleeping. Moreover, fatty liver diseases are also
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a threat where extra fat builds up in person's liver due to obesity. In this assignment, the focus is
on intervention measures on how obesity can be controlled and cured through addressing dietary
behaviours and reducing consumption of sugar in food & beverages.
Background
Obesity as health problem worldwide has tripled since 1975. In 2016, people with age 18
or older contributes to overweight by more than 1.9 billion. From those, over 650 million were
obese. 39 % of adults of age 18 years and below were overweight and 13% were obese. A health
survey in England 2019 estimates that 28% adults in England are obese and further 36% are
overweight. Around 63% of adults are overweight and half of them are suffering from obesity.
Adults living in deprived part of country are likely to be obese than those residing in less
deprived parts (NHS, 2022). Of obese adults around one in eight were morbidly obese. Since
1993, proportion of adult in England who are obese drives from 52.9% to 64%.
Epidemiological
Obesity is a problem that have an essential impact on health impairment and reduces
quality of life. It is a major public health and economic issue of global significance. The best
precise way to measure obesity in adults is by utilising Body Mass Index for age percentiles. It
can be calculated by dividing an individual's weight in kilograms by square of height in meters.
BMI is recommended by the National Institute of health and care excellence as practical estimate
of overweight on adults and young people. There are also other measures including neck
circumference which is considered reliable for identifying adults with high obesity. Another is
Rohrer's Ponderal Index which measures obesity by dividing weight in kilograms by height in
meter cubed. Its has the ability to predict percentage body fat in adults.
A health survey in England in 2021 entails that half of its population is classified as obese
for that reason number of health related issues are also increasing which are reducing life
expectancy of people. Around 63% are considered as overweight which constitutes over 35
million people. Where 56% of adults admits to lose weight which makes it one in five UK adults
(Formulate Health, 2021).
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The age group that is most likely to be overweight in 2019 was between 65 to 74.
presence of overweight was more than 70% in age group from 45 and above.
(Source: Obesity statistics)
As shown above, men are more exposed than women to become obese. But obesity level
in women are above men as women have 29% and men have 27% level of obesity.
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Illustration 1: Obesity statistics

The problem of obesity at Newham London Borough has seen rise with rise in fast food
outlets. Newham ranked third worst borough for obesity with 43.6% of 45 to 60 years old were
considered as obese which is result of fast food outlets. Newham is becoming proof of how an
overload of takeaways can help poor eating choices. In Newham London Borough, combination
of low income, social deprivation and fast food stores has contributes in creates problem of
obesity to flourish (Mathur, 2019).
(Source: Newham’s adult obesity levels rise alongside increased access to fast food)
Distribution statistics
More than half of London's adult population is classified as overweight or obese less than
the national average.
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Illustration 2: Newham’s adult obesity levels rise alongside increased access to fast food

(Source: The London Intelligence | Health and wellbeing)
Obesity poses major threat both to person's health and and health services. It can
maximise the problems of other health diseases which sometimes also leads to mental health
issues such as depression and low self confidence. This places extra pressure on National Health
Security at country level as annual spend on treatment of obesity by NHS exceeds the funds
spend on police or other services. In 2018, 56% adults in London were classed as obese as they
have BMI of over 25 (Barrett, Brown and Belcher, 2019). Some of the lowest level of adult
weight issues are found in central and west London while outer east London has the boroughs
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Illustration 3: The London Intelligence | Health and wellbeing

with high share of adults who are obese. In England, the obesity rate is particularly higher for
women which is 29% than men which is 27%. But for both genders obesity rates in England
have rises by a similar quantity from 1990s. From time period of 1993 to 2019, obesity rates
among women drive from 16% to 29% while for men it rises from 13% to 27%. In North east of
England, Yorkshire and Humber, the East Midlands and London, women have significantly
higher obesity ratio than men. Among these, 20% lives in the most deprived areas of England
where women part is 39% and men rate is lower than 30% (Corfe and Shepherd, 2021).
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Socioeconomy and Ethinicity
No individual is immune to obesity but various health and socio-economic inequalities
plays a essential role in susceptibility and obesity. In England, around three quarters of adults
ranging between 45 to 75 years are overweight or obese. Obesity in England is more exposed to
deprived communities such as Halton majorly in Windmill Hill, Halton Lea and Ditton. A survey
found out that men are more likely than women to be overweight or obese where 68% of men
and 60% of women are overweight (House of Common Library, 2022).
(Source: Obesity Statistics)
It has been evaluated that in most deprived areas in England, prevalence of obesity is 9%
higher than least deprived areas. In Newham London Borough, people have low pay which
resulted in unhealthy eating habits. The influence of deprivation on obesity is deeply concerning
and with adults in most deprived regions have double prevalence of overweight compared to
least deprived. In 2018, the prevalence of overweight was 27% in adult age between 45 to 70 in
deprived areas and 13% in least deprived area (Royal College of Physicians, 2020). The gap here
is enormous and is constantly growing with an increase from 8.5% in 2006 to 13.9% in 2018. It
has been evaluated that socio-economic elements such as under employment or poverty
contributes majorly in driving obesity and poor health.
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Illustration 4: Obesity Statistics

Consequences of obesity can impact an individuals life severely in form of cardiovascular
disease, type 2 diabetes and musculosketal diseases like osteoarthritis. More widely obesity has
serious impact on economic development as the overall cost of obesity to broader society is
estimated at around 27 pound billion. One of the Barrett. S., Brown. R and Belcher. E.
2019major cause of obesity in Newham London is lack of exercise where when people get to a
certain weight they feel unable to exercise. Failing to address issues posed by obesity problem
place a high burden on NHS resources. It is evaluated that NHS spent 6.1 pound billion on
obesity and its related health problems in 2015 (Public Health England, 2017)
(Source: Health matters: obesity and the food environment)
Obesity has the power to harm people's life prospects, their self esteem and their mental
health. People feel discriminated at public places due to overweight and feels shy to exercise.
The UK wide NHS costs dimension to obesity is predicted to reach 9.7 pound billion by 2050
with more costs to society estimated to reach up to 49.9 billion pound per year. A report by The
Marmot review presents that less income, social deprivation and ethnicity have an essential
influence on chances of becoming overweight. There is a robust relationship between deprivation
and adulthood obesity. Issue of obesity prevalent in most deprived 10% of adult is almost twice
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Illustration 5: Health matters: obesity and the food environment

to least deprived 10%. Also, there are more fast food outlets in deprived areas than in more
affluent areas making it easy for peopel to get unhealthy food easily resulting in adding to
problem of obesity and other diseases.
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Illustration 6: Health matters: obesity and the food environment

(Source: Health matters: obesity and the food environment)
It has been assessed that people from specific ethnic groups, for instance south Asians are
more possible to get obese and have a higher susceptibility to certain problems related to excess
weight.
As per Public Health England's data has showed results of how extra weights in adults is
not equally distributed between social groups. In many areas of England which are deprived,
prevalence of excess weight is 13% higher than areas with least deprived. In people with
disabilities, surplus weight is 11% is more than adults without disabilities. It has been seen that
black people have high rates of obesity and white British people have higher rates of excess
weight compared to other group of ethnic. Education is also major factor as adults with no
qualifications shows 12% point higher rate of overweight.
(Source: Obesity Statistics)
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Illustration 7: Obesity Statistics

Identify what needs to change
In order to provide healthy lifestyle and food choices to reduce the level of obesity,
Newham London Borough can build personal, economic and community resilience to support
people to make affirmative choices as well as maintain their health and wellbeing. Tackling food
security from adulthood is the major priority for Newham London. Things that needs to change
to control obesity is to stop choosing unhealthy food and beverages options. Restricting refined
grains, sweets and high calorie sugar beverages and maximising physical activity can assist in
reducing problem of overweight. The increased consumption of out of home meals which are
cheap and available readily at all times need to be restricted as they majorly contributes to
increasing level of obesity. People in UK are less active as per current trends. Advancement in
technologies have resulted in less physical activities from daily life. A survey indicates that 67%
of men and 55% of women aged 16 and over do not engage in any physical activities (Public
Health England, 2017). Absence of physical activities needs to be changed to effectively tackle
issue of obesity. Newham London borough authorities can enhances everyone's access to
healthier food choices. Fast food stalls need to be examined and provided with better food
choices. Authorities can encourage stores and outlets to not sell unhealthy food to people who
are showing symptoms of obesity. Healthier catering options can result to lead and manage
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people from environmental health or trading standard team to build their relationships with local
stores. The programme encourage stores to switch to healthier food ingredients, menu and
cooking measures by focusing majorly on salt, sugar and high fat proportion item. People eating
habits and unhealthy lifestyle are two major areas that needs to be change.
APPROPRIATE WAYS TO INTERVENTION
The appropriate ways of the intervention tend to includes and comprises of the making of
a suitable plan along with gathering of the information and ensuring and leading of the Form the
intervention team. Together with this the effective way of the intervention also tend to comprises
of the deciding on specific consequences along with Make notes on what had been analysing and
Hold the intervention meeting and having and leading out proper Follow up (Cervigni, Hickling
and Olaru, 2022). Further, in context to the current study the initially intervention and search of
the article is based on the searched the articles by the making the using of the three search
engines - PubMed, Science Direct and Google scholar by using generic terms. Further, the
abstracts of the from each of these selected form of the search engines were read as well as tend
to be retrieved and the search terms are also tend to be revised in order to add more specific and
relevant words and terminologies. Further, the selection of the articles from 2012 to 2021 are
reviewed based on Adult obesity target population group 45 to 75 Newham London borough.
Along with this, the intervention that has been made within current project is rend to based and
involves perspectives and perceptions on educational interventions. In order to acquire the
perceptions over time, this period was selected. The studies selected includes qualitative
component in them that allow review of the perceptions of adults on health educational
intervention and definitions (Jaacks and Di Cesare, 2022). The qualitative methods include focus
group discussions, ethnographic methods which have looked into forces that influence the
perceptions and decision making of Adult obesity target population group 45 to 75 Newham
London borough. Beside this, it has been also ensured and checked that the reference list of
chosen articles is also properly reviewed as well as full text of potentially interesting research
were examined to ensure the intervention and selection of proper and appropriate article.
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Selected article to have the identification evaluation measures
Adult obesity complications: challenges and clinical impact
(https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2042018820934955)
the current article was tend to be presented by the Saleem Ansari, Hasan Haboubi and
Nadim Haboubi which was published during the year 2020 in June month. The intervention of
the current article is significant and rationale as it supports and provide a better understanding
and information about the complications which are tend to be associated and related with the
issues and challenge of the adult obesity which are tend to be overwhelming becoming vital for
the entire national healthcare systems. Further, based on the evaluation of this article it has been
also seen and reviewed that the still no country has yet implemented a successful and effective
population-level strategy to reverse the rising trends of obesity. Thus, the current article was vital
and significant to presents epidemiological data on the complications of adult obesity along with
providing the better discusses and analysis of the some of the key challenges which are
associated with managing this disease at a population and individual level (So and et. al., 2022).
SYSTEM REVIEW
A systemic review based on the current article can be made as it tend to provide an
quantitative nature of the information about the rising issue and challenge of the obesity that is
prevailing in the many countries. Further, the current article also focused and emphasised
towards the challenges and issues such as higher risk of the cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
cancer as well as many other chronic respirator diseases which are tend to be caused by the issue
of obesity in adults. Also, the Diabetes Prevention Programmes and the Look AHEAD
trial, suggest that frequency of patient contact, individualizing patient care and face-to-face
interventions were important predictors of weight loss. In a separate study, patients who attended
group sessions every other week for 1 year after weight loss maintained 13 kg of their initial
13.2 kg weight loss, which suggests that regular group sessions may prevent weight regain.
However, implementing behavioral interventions can be difficult due to a lack of resources and
time. Remotely delivered behavioral programs via telephone or the internet are alternative
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approaches that may be more easily accessible and affordable. Patients who received 20 weight
loss intervention phone calls over 6 months lost an average of 4.9 kg; those who received 10 calls
lost 3.2 kg and those who were self-directed lost 2.3 kg. In another study, patients who received
24 weekly bespoke weight loss sessions via email in addition to internet resources lost 4.4 kg
after 1 year when compared with a group receiving internet resources only who lost 2.0
kg. Despite their popularity, little is known about the effectiveness of smart-phone applications
for weight management and therefore more research is needed.
METHODOLOGY
this section of the project tends to present and reflects about the research method and
approaches that are being used to undertake and conduct an investigation. There are two main
forms and types of the research philosophy comprises of the positivism and interpretivisim
philosophy (Arvaniti, and et. al., 2022). It has been seen that the positivistic research philosophy
is concerned with undertaking a systematic and practical way of investigation. While, on the
other hand, it has been seen that the interpretivisim philosophy is associated with the
generalisation of facts that includes of the undertaking a detailed nature and in-depth form of the
investigation. Further, it has been seen and find out that the there are two main types and form of
the research approach that includes and comprise of the inductive and deductive approach. It has
been seen that the inductive approach is tend to be in line with the interpretivisim philosophy that
comprises of detailed study. On the other hand, the deductive approach is the one that is related
and associated with the undertaking of the scanning and testing of the facts based on use of the
positivistic philosophy.
PEOPLE PARTICIPATION
The current article is based on the epidemiological study that is involving 41,654
respondents in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions which has
showed and reflected that obesity was associated with an increased odds of alcohol use and
mood and anxiety, along with the personality disorders.
QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITIVE WORK
It has been seen that there are two main forms and types of the research method that
comprises and includes of the qualitative and quantitative nature of the work. It has been seen
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that the qualitative nature of work tend to comprises of the in-depth and detailed nature of the
investigation that tend to be complex and time consuming in nature which supports theoretical
analysis of human behaviour. On the other hand, the use of the quantitative nature of the research
is tend to be associated and related with the undertaking the objective nature of the investigation
that is based on collection and review of the numeric facts that is mush more easier and time
efficient in nature (Mileva and Zaidell, 2022). Within the selected article, use of the quantitative
nature of the research work is being seen that facilities effective presentation of facts to reach
and gave a specific set of results.
Action plan
Action plan to minimise obesity can be achieved through eating a healthy reduced
calories diet and exercise daily. Individuals can make a balanced calorie controlled diet as
recommended by dietician and can adopt weight loss management health professional help.
People can make a fix diet chart to follow for six months where they can avoid eating food from
outside and eat healthy food. They can join local groups for weight loss and take up physical
activities like walking, jogging or outdoor games for a fix time in a day. People should be
encouraged to reduce their energy intake by 600 calories a day. They must involve plenty of
fruits, vegetables and wholegrain variety food in their meals. They should start in taking milk
and dairy products as well as other non dairy sources of protein and avoid eating junk food.
Authorities of Newham London borough can create campaigns to aware about health
disadvantages of being overweight and eating unhealthy. The campaigns should reach maximum
number of people who needs to lose weight and should encourage them to change their
behavioural patterns of unhealthy lifestyle. Government of Newham London borough should
ensure that everyone has right information about obesity so that they will purchase less unhealthy
foods and drinks. They can strive to improve everyone's easy accessibility to food options which
are healthy. Initiates can be taken to encourage food stores to add healthier menu and
ingredients. They should constantly monitor statistics of overweight and promotes customers to
adopt to healthier lifestyle. Strategic policies can be use by councils to support healthy food and
beverages choices. This can be done by ensuring that outlets and markets that sell diverse food
choices are reachable to public of Newham London. Authorities can ensure to avoid over
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concentration of food takeaways in town centres or high streets. Restriction on food stalls that
have proved to put on adverse impact on health and well-being of people. Individuals who are
overweight should take necessary measures to reduce their sugar consumption from daily meals.
Health professional should be included in action plan to more strategically create solutions to
tackle obesity.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of current project, a conclusion can be made that the maintaining and focusing
on the healthy lifestyle provides individual to avoid diseases related to their physical health such
as obesity. Along with this, it has been summarized that the obesity means a complex disease
comprises of enormous amount of body fat and it obesity is tend to be the result of inheritance,
environmental or physiological elements mixed with diet and exercise choices. Further, based on
the finding of current project, it has been concluded that the Obesity is becoming one of the
major serious public health issue where authorities are making efforts to fight risk factors of
obesity that is having negative impact on health impairment and reduces quality of life. Finally,
it has been concluded and summaries that proper step need to be taken in order to provide
healthy lifestyle and food choices to reduce the level of obesity, to support people to make
affirmative choices along with better health and wellbeing comprising of Tackling food security
from adulthood to reduce issue of obesity in adult.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Cervigni, E., Hickling, S. and Olaru, D., 2022. Using aggregated mobile phone location data to
compare the realised foodscapes of different socio-economic groups. Health & Place, 75,
p.102786.
Jaacks, L.M. and Di Cesare, M., 2022. The Epidemiology and Social Determinants of
Obesity. Clinical Obesity in Adults and Children, pp.17-30.
So, W.K. and et. al., 2022. Effect of a family-based multimedia intervention on the uptake of
faecal immunohistochemical test among South Asian older adults: A cluster-randomised
controlled trial. International Journal of Nursing Studies, p.104254.
Arvaniti, K. and et. al., 2022. Epidemiology and Age-Related Mortality in Critically Ill Patients
With Intra-Abdominal Infection or Sepsis: An International Cohort Study. International
Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, p.106591.
Mileva, K.N. and Zaidell, L., 2022. Sport and Exercise Science and Health. In Health
Studies (pp. 85-124). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. Gray, L., MacDonald, C., Becker,
J.S. and Johnston, D., 2022. A qualitative study of emergency management
considerations for big-bodied people in Aotearoa New Zealand. International Journal of
Disaster Risk Reduction, 67, p.102646.
Brooke. M. 2019. Newham facing ‘epidemic’ with rising obesity, NHS shock figures reveal.
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facing-obesity-epidemic-3217104
World Trade organisation. 2021. Obesity and overweight. 2021 [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight#:~:text=Worldwide
%20obesity%20has%20nearly%20tripled,%2C%20and%2013%25%20were%20obese.>
House of Common Library. 2022 Obesity Statistics. 2022 [Online]. Available through:
<https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03336/#:~:text=The%20Health
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Public Health England. 2017. Health matters: obesity and the food environment. 2017. [Online].
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Barrett. S., Brown. R and Belcher. E. 2019. The London Intelligence | Health and wellbeing.
2019. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.centreforlondon.org/reader/the-london-
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Corfe. S and Shepherd. J., 2021. Gendered experiences of obesity: Narrowing gender gaps in
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<https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/gendered-experiences-of-obesity/>
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