Obesity is rising fastest in young adults in England

 Around a third of adults in England are now living with obesity, and new cases are rising most quickly in younger adults, according to an analysis of electronic health records (EHRs) for more than 54 million people.

Researchers used EHRs from NHS England to look at obesity trends between 2019 and 2025, and have concluded that rates of obesity have shot up since the pandemic, while the gap in rates between affluent and disadvantaged groups is widening. Obesity is now more common than high blood pressure in the UK.

"We're also seeing large disparities across the country: the percentage of adults affected by obesity in northeast England is six times higher than in central London," said study co-lead Robert Fletcher of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Cambridge University. "Differences on this scale are rarely seen in other areas of public health." 

Rates of new obesity cases were 35% higher for people with the highest socioeconomic deprivation – those with the lowest incomes, highest unemployment, and poorest housing – compared with people at the other end of the scale.

The difference was even more stark among women, where new cases of obesity were 54% higher among the most deprived, and most apparent in Asian women, where the difference was found to be 94%. Meanwhile, 48% of people living in northeast England are affected by obesity, compared to 8.5% in central London.

The team found that rates of new obesity cases rose by almost 20% in those aged 30-39, and by 16% in those aged 20-29, while rates fell among adults aged 60-79, according to the results of the study, which has been published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

The rise in new cases among young adults of childbearing age is especially concerning, according to Fletcher, given that obesity raises the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. 

"Beyond the implications for their own long-term health, obesity is associated with infertility, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and child obesity, which may perpetuate intergenerational cycles of health inequality," he added.

GLP-1 impact uncertain, for now

While the data period overlaps with the roll-out of GLP-1 agonist weight-loss drugs, such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic/Wegovy (semaglutide) and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro (tirzepatide), the study did not examine their impact. However, there was no clear effect on obesity in the data that could be attributed to these medicines, according to Fletcher.

"The drugs on their own are unlikely to be the answer," he said. "At present, the majority are privately prescribed and the jabs are expensive, which poses a barrier for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. We need deep-seated change to the many social and economic factors that drive obesity in the first place."

That sentiment was echoed by co-author Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow and chair of the UK's Obesity Health Care Goals Programme.

"Obesity is not primarily about willpower. [This] new, powerful data indicate[s] that those most at risk frequently reside in the most obesogenic environments and likely have the least agency to withstand such environments," he said.

"To achieve lasting change, the UK must expand access to new treatments faster, but also fundamentally reshape food and activity environments so that healthier choices occur with minimal conscious effort. Failure to act will drive further rises in multimorbidity and human suffering, with profound consequences for the NHS and the wider economy."

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