Study finds over 60 percent of Spaniards overweight

A study published on Wednesday shows that a majority of Spaniards need to lose weight.

It discovered that almost 64 percent of Spaniards needed to lose some weight and highlights that only 36.1 percent of Spaniards between the ages of 18 and 64 were in optimal condition with a body mass index (BMI) of below 25 and a waist to height ration of under 0.5, according to a study produced by the Spanish National Foundation for Nutrition.

The study gathered data on food intake as well as the level of physical activity and the socioeconomic data of the population.

The waist to height ratio is becoming increasingly popular for deciding whether a person needs or not to lose weight and is considered by many to be a more rigorous measure than BMI.

If only BMI had been used in the study, closer to 55 percent of Spaniards would need to lose weight.

The study also showed there are more fat men than women in Spain with only 28.9 percent considered at a healthy weight compared to 42.7 percent of women. Older people also tend to be fatter than youngsters with only 20 percent of over 40s considered healthy.

The study confirms fears that despite the Mediterranean diet Spaniards are getting heavier due to eating increased amounts of fast and processed food rather than traditional diets. Enditem