SHARE
COPY LINK

OBESITY

Belly fat putting Spanish children at risk

Childhood abdominal obesity is a serious problem in Spain and one that is going largely undetected, a new study shows.

Belly fat putting Spanish children at risk
Young people with high belly fat are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease although they are not actually overweight. File photo: Gaulsstin/Flickr

A total of 21.3 percent of children aged six to 11 in Spain are suffering from abdominal obesity while this figure is 14.3 percent for adolescents aged 12 to 17.

That's the finding of Spain's first study into the problem of belly fat conducted by Barcelona's IMIM institute.

These young people are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and premature mortality as adults although they are not actually overweight, said the authors of the study published in PLOS ONE.

Researchers looked at data from 1,521 young people across Spain to get their results, measuring their waist-to-height ratio as a neutral indicator. 

"Our results indicate the need to incorporate waist circumference into routine clinical practice, in addition to traditional measurements of weight and height," the scientists concluded.

Only in this way can real health risks be determined, they added.

Don't miss stories about Spain, join The Local on Facebook and Twitter.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TRAVEL

German beach hotel bans overweight guests

A hotel on Germany’s North Sea coast has banned overweight guests due to worries they’ll break the resorts ‘elegant designer furniture’.

German beach hotel bans overweight guests
The beach in Cruxhaven, near the Beachhotel Sahlenburg. Photo: DPA

The Beachhotel Sahlenburg in the German city of Cuxhaven is hoping to welcome everyone back to the beach after the coronavirus lockdown ends, however not everyone is welcome on the sand. 

In order to stay at the hotel, you need to be 130 kilograms (286) pounds or below. 

“For reasons of liability, we would like to point out that the interior is not suitable for people with a body weight of more than 130 kg,” says the hotel. 

The reason for the restriction? The hotels elegant design furniture is far too sensitive and cannot support the weight of anyone upwards of 130kg. 

Hotel Operator Angelika Hargesheimer, speaking with German media outlet Buten and Binnen, says her hotel’s classic furniture is not made for big butts. 

“The designer chairs downstairs, they’re real classics. When a person over 130 kilograms sits on it, they sit there with one buttock and the chair does not last long.”

“But I want to have a designer hotel and I want to have nice furniture – not brutal furniture made of oak.”

Once bitten? 

Hargesheimer says she won’t get fooled again when it comes to chubby guests, saying that a larger visitor broke one of her hotel beds previously – which was the moment she decided to bite the bullet. 

She also said that the design of the chairs make them uncomfortable for larger people, while the showers are too small for the big boned. 

Although there were some suggestions that the move was illegal, a legal expert interviewed by Bild said that it would only amount to discrimination if the guests were so obese that they were considered to be disabled. 

“Only if an obese person reaches the threshold of a disability does protection against discrimination exist. Therefore, it should be difficult for those affected to take legal action against provisions such as in the hotel described, with reference to the AGG (General Treatment Act),” Sebastian Bickerich, from the Federal Anti-Discrimination Office, told Bild

 

SHOW COMMENTS