20 mn Italians lead sedentary lives, obesity up to 11 percent

Almost 20 million Italians lead sedentary lives and the national obesity rate is up to 11.4% as of last year, the fifth annual Italian Obesity Barometer Summit heard Tuesday, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

Only 5% eat the five portions of fruit and vegetables recommended by the World Health Organization.

Some 54% of Italians weigh themselves monthly and 24% weekly, the report said.

"Obesity is a very complex illness and if environmental factors certainly have a great responsibility in the accumulation of weight, the susceptibility to getting ill is given by genetic and biological factors that can today be combatted with new and innovative drugs within the framework of a multidisciplinary approach," said Paolo Sbraccia, deputy vice president of the Italian Barometer Diabetes Observatory.

"Italy is one of the countries with the lowest levels of physical activity," said Roberta Crialesi, a director of the integrated health service system of national statistics institute Istat, saying "the problem gets worse the older you get".

In fact, if 23.6% of 18-24-year-olds have sedentary lifestyles, that rises to 67.2% of the over 74s.