Study suggests two out of three Spaniards should lose weight

TAKING a page out of Rafael Benitez’s playbook, almost two-thirds of Spaniards could do with losing some weight according to a new report. 

The nutrition study, named ANIBES, claims that a mere 36.1 per cent of the Spanish population aged from 18-64 are in shape, boasting a Body Mass Index (BMI) of under 25 and a waist-height ratio of under 0.5. 

While many might recall trips to the doctor where their BMI was checked and/or lambasted, weight-height ratios are fast gaining popularity as a fairer measurement of health which doesn’t discriminate between tall and short people. It is now considered a superior indicator for risk of weight related issues.

In the Spanish study men were found to be in less optimum shape than women, while a startling 80 per cent of all people over 40-years-old were revealed to strolling along a cliff-edge of serious weight problems. 

When it comes to full-blown obesity, the latest figures indicate that slightly more than a quarter of Spaniards are in serious need of weight reduction. 

Despite the enduring myth of the healthy Spanish Mediterranean diet, the country has been broadly tarnished by the same fast, processed food phenomenon that has poisoned the rest of the world, tripling global obesity rates and raising fears of a global health epidemic.