A new study has shown there are six different types of obese people and has urged policy makers to target people accordingly.
The research by the University of Sheffield found that people are often treated the same for obesity despite how healthy they are or what lifestyle they lead, and said targeted services would be a more efficient use of resources.
The study was led by Dr Green from the University’s School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR). He said said: ‘Policies designed to tackle obesity and encourage healthier lifestyles often target individuals just because they are obese. But a focus on just the group as a whole is not very efficient. We are all different and different health promotion approaches work for different people.
‘Our research showed that those in the groups that we identified are likely to need very different services, and will respond very differently to different health promotion policies.
The study found those who have a BMI of 30 or over can be identified as: young males who were heavy drinkers, middle aged individuals who were unhappy and anxious, older people who despite living with physical health conditions were happy, younger healthy females, older affluent healthy adults, and individuals with very poor health.
