Obesity

Mr. Ruffley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's estimate is of the average body mass index in (a) England, (b) the East of England, (c) Suffolk, (d) Bedfordshire, (e) Cambridgeshire, (f) Essex, (g) Hertfordshire and (h) Norfolk.

Dawn Primarolo
The information is not available in the exact format requested.

The latest data on average body mass index (mean BMI) for England and for the East of England Government Office Region can be found in the Health Survey for England 2006, in the cardiovascular disease and risk factors adults, obesity and risk factors children—Volume 1 Cardiovascular disease and risk factors in adults, published 31 January 2008, a copy is available in the Library. In England in 2006, the mean BMI for men aged 16 and over was 27.2 kg/m2 and for women it was 26.8 kg/m2. The Mean BMI for men and women aged 16 and over in the East of England Government Office Region in 2006 was 27.2 kg/m2 and 26.9 kg/m2 respectively.

Data for Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Norfolk are not available.