2024-03-21 20:18:25
The French army is “extremely vigilant” on obesity, a problem to which she “unlikely” to escape, said Thursday the surgeon general of the armies Jacques Margery, during a visit to Brest.
“The American army will be confronted with this problem. And we too are extremely vigilant.”declared the central director of the Armed Health Service (SSA), commenting on press articles on this issue.
“Little chance” of escaping these problems
“It’s a public health reality, there is little chance and little risk that we will escape these problems”he added, during a meeting with the press at the Clermont-Tonnerre army training hospital. “Despite the care that can be taken to organize prevention against junk food, cigarettes and a sedentary lifestyle, the French army is the image of French society. Armies are the image of the society from which they come”.
Of the population of age to serve in the American army (17-42 years), only one in three Americans would be fit to fight given their body mass index (BMI) and physical activity, according to a study published by the American Journal of preventive medicine in September 2022. A phenomenon described as “Too fat to fight”, according to the weekly Point.
« Too fat to fight »
“If going to war requires having a certain agility, running fast enough and resisting temperatures of -15°C in a trench in Ukraine, it’s definitely better to be in good health”commented Mr. Margery.
“It’s up to us to take people who are perhaps a little overweight, perhaps not able to run, to play sports […] and to encourage them to maintain a healthy lifestyle, a level of fitness which ensures that they remain in good health as long as possible”he added.
In France, the prevalence of obesity was estimated at 9.6% in the armed forces in 2017, with 36.1% of personnel overweight, according to the summary of a thesis published on the website of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. It was in the national gendarmerie that the BMI was highest, with half of the personnel overweight (50.1%).
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