SHOCKING figures reveal a huge proportion of the adult population in Cumbria are putting their lives at risk due to over-eating.

In 2014 out of an estimated population of 500,000 in Cumbria, 68 per cent of adults were recorded as being overweight.

There was also a high percentage of adults classified as obese at 23.9 per cent.

The Cumbria figures were contained in a study by Public Health England which showed a staggering 83 per cent of adults aged 40-60 were overweight, drank too much and exercised too little.

Cumbria County Council has outlined a health and wellbeing strategy for the next three years. One of its key targets is "tackling obesity and improving the mental health and wellbeing of adults".

In response to the figures PHE has launched a new campaign, One You, to encourage people to consider their health, and make small but positive changes to improve it.

PHE has developed a How Are You quiz on its website to help people understand how they can make changes to their lifestyle.

Professor Kevin Fenton, director of health and wellbeing at PHE said: "People are busy with work, with families, with the daily grind and sometimes their own health is the least of their priorities.

"The How Are You quiz will help anyone who wants to take a few minutes to take stock and find out quickly where they can take a little action to make a big difference to their health."

Over the last 20 years the number of people suffering from illnesses related to lifestyle choices has skyrocketed.

In two decades obesity in adults has risen by 16 per cent. A knock-on effect of this is that now one in five obese adults runs the risk of developing type two diabetes.

In Cumbria, 6.6 per cent of people have been diagnosed with diabetes - equating to just over 28,000 people.

In 2015, there were 3,810 recorded cases of diabetes in Barrow alone. Copeland and the South Lakes fared even worse, with 4,692 and 5,402 cases respectively.

Dan Howarth, head of care at Diabetes UK, said: "We know that people often bury their heads in the sand when it comes to their general health but the consequences of doing nothing can be catastrophic. There are an estimated 11.9 million people at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the UK because of their lifestyle and more than one million who already have the condition but have not yet been diagnosed.

"Type 2 diabetes can lead to serious complications such as amputation, blindness, heart attack, stroke and kidney disease. We know how hard it is to change the habits of a lifetime but we want people to seek the help they need to lose weight, stop smoking and take more exercise."

No-one from the county council was available for comment as the Evening Mail went to press.

Find out how you can live a healthier life by visiting the GoActive Cumbria website

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