HEALTH chiefs in the Lothians are spending the equivalent of £60,000 a day treating people who are overweight.
The cost to the health service emerged as separate figures estimated that 150,000 adults in the Lothians are now classed as "clinically obese".
NHS Lothian is now set to launch a new drive to tackle the problem and attempt to trim the annual £22 m
illion bill.
Those classed as clinically obese are putting themselves at risk of diabetes and potentially damaging their hearts, livers and kidneys, but hospitals and GPs only currently get the opportunity to help people when their weight has actually affected their health.
NHS Lothian wants to help prevent people from reaching that point, and will draw up an action plan to work alongside local authorities, businesses and other groups to help people eat more healthily and get more exercise.
Dr Alison McCallum, director of public health at NHS Lothian, said: "The Healthy Weight Strategy is about improving the quality of life for people in Lothian and helping people lead long and healthy lives.
"By promoting healthy eating and regular physical activity, NHS Lothian can help people avoid some of the debilitating and occasionally fatal conditions associated with being severely overweight."
Dr McCallum added: "The solutions to helping people maintain healthy weight are not just down to the NHS.
"While we will do our bit for people who already have problems associated with obesity, it's important that people realise we need to change things at a society-wide and cultural level.
"Society needs to realise that living in a built environment where people are forced to use cars, rather than walking or cycling to get around, is part of this problem and that transport is one of the many factors making it harder for some people to maintain a healthy weight."
The most recent study showed the cost of obese people to the NHS in Scotland is £171m.
However, worsening health levels, combined with inflation, mean that the true figure is probably higher still.
Councils and businesses have welcomed the opportunity to tap into the knowledge of NHS Lothian's dieticians, psychologists and physiotherapists.
Ron Hewitt, chief executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "We would certainly welcome this initiative. No-one wants to end up losing employees through illness.
"Everyone should know about healthy nutrition – it is about reminding them and giving them good advice. If that comes from real health professionals I'm sure it will be very helpful."
Councillor Paul Edie, the city's health and social care leader, added: "The council is already working with a range of partners on ways to improve the health and well-being of Edinburgh citizens.
"We have set a target to be the most physically active city in Europe by 2020, so it is necessary that we continue to work closely with partners to achieve this."
Jo's secret of a lighter lifeJO OSTLERE knows how difficult it can be for obese people to lose weight.
At her heaviest, the 42-year-old, from Linlithgow, weighed more than 20 stone.
The bank manager would like to see NHS Lothian focusing its psychologists on people who comfort-eat.
She said: "Until you get to the question of why people are over-eating, you are never going to tackle the issue. I was an emotional eater, definitely. I knew for a long time that I had to do something. I tried the Atkins diet and weight-loss classes but I would always end up putting more weight on."
In October 2006 she found a scheme that worked for her in LighterLife – for which she has since become an instructor – and lost more than six stones, through introducing a healthier diet.
BMI: A ROUGH GUIDE TO OBESITY (OR NOT)THE body mass index is the relatively blunt formula used by doctors to measure whether someone is obese.
It takes only a person's height and weight into consideration and so does not take account of other factors, such as muscle.
The ideal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9. A rating between 25 and 30 means the person is overweight and someone with a BMI of more than 30 would be classed as clinically obese. A 6ft-tall person would have to weigh 15st 12lb to be considered obese. If they weighed 13st 4lb they would be overweight.
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www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk•
www.edinburghchamber.co.uk•
www.edinburgh.gov.uk