The Czech Republic is facing an obesity epidemic

One fifth of adult Czechs are obese and another 40 percent are overweight. Our study found that higher obesity rates were particularly evident among men, primarily due to highconsumption of sugary drinks and low intake of fruit and vegetables. In contrast, psychosocial factors may play a more significant role in obesity among women, points out Maika Ohno, a Japanese scientist at the SYRI National Institute who is an expert on healthy eating and currently lives in the Czech Republic.

"The Czech Republic has one of the highest rates of overweight and obesity among men in Europe, nearly 70%. However, the differences between the sexes are notable," said Ohno, who is investigating how gender, education and income relate to obesity risk. For men, the obesity risk was related to eating behaviour. Among men with high school or elementary school attainment, the effect of education on obesity was negligible. “The direct effect of education on obesity was significant among men with college education, accounting for 89% of the total effect while it was 83% for women,” Ohno said.

Among women, obesity is much more strongly associated with self-rated poor health, suggesting that psychosocial and health perception factors may play a greater role than diet in this group. "There were no significant associations between dietary factors and BMI among women. This is the main difference between the two sexes," Ohno said, adding that overall, she believes that higher educational attainment has a strong direct effect on reducing the risk of obesity, and this effect appears to be independent of income. “This underscores the lasting impact of educationat an early age,” Ohhno said.

Obesity is increasingly affecting young people. “We currently have 16 percent of children under the age of 15 who are obese and another 10 percent who are overweight,” said Ladislav Dušek, director of the Institute of Health Research and a member of the SYRI research group focused on the effectiveness of the health system. He said the curriculum will need to be changed to teach children the joy of exercise. Czech sport, he said, selects talented individuals and the rest are then ostracized and seek attention elsewhere, such as on social media.

"Obesity is currently the biggest risk hanging over the Czech population. Severe obesity in adolescence means a significantly higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood," Dušek said, adding that similar cases increase the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure in adulthood severalfold. “We enter the slope with hypertension, and just with obesity,” Dušek added.

Rates of overweight and obesity in adults by sex internationally (OECD, 2021)