If you spend all your free time playing or watching sport, you might find it hard to imagine that we have a growing obesity problem in Singapore.

However, according to the 2010 National Health Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health involving 7,500 Singapore residents, 10.8%, or one in 10 Singaporeans, is obese. In 2004, only 6.9% of the population was obese.

According to the Health Promotion Board (HPB), a “Body Mass Index (BMI) of 23 or more puts you at greater risk of obesity-related diseases”.

We are headed the way of the United States (33.8%), England (24.5%) and Australia (24.8%). Our northern neighbour, Malaysia, has 16.3% of its population overweight, according to statistics provided by the HPB.

The HPB has attributed this to the sedentary lifestyle most Singaporeans have and the fact more than half of the population does not engage in regular exercise.

The HPB is also taking aim at junk food marketing that target young children.

“With increasing evidence to show that food marketing influences the food preferences among the young, there has been a push for more concerted efforts to strengthen policies on food marketing targeted at children. In line with this, HPB will be introducing a set of local guidelines to protect children from indiscriminate advertising and marketing of unhealthy food and beverage choices,” wrote the HPB in their 2010 National Health Lifestyle Campaign document.

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