Almost half of Israeli adults overweight, study finds

Around half of Israeli adults over 20 are overweight, and an even higher percentage wants to lose weight, according to data released Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The study found that 55 percent of men and 41% of women are overweight, and that 24% of women dieted regularly compared to 18% of men.

A higher percentage of Arabs, 54%, are overweight compared to Jews (46%), and 60% of those over the age of 45 are overweight compared with 37% among those aged 20-44.

Over half of women, 58%, said they wanted to lose weight, while 46% of men said they wanted to lose weight. Jews (54%) want to lose weight more than Arabs (41%).

More than 30% of Israelis with normal weight wanted to lose weight — 44% among women and 14% among men.

People aged 45 and older tended to want to lose weight more than those aged 20-44 (54% compared with 41%) and also dieted more (22% compared with 16%).

As for Israelis’ eating habits: 41% eat at least three vegetable dishes every day, 45% eat at least two fruit helpings, 60% eat legumes at least twice a week, 29% eat fish at least twice a week, and about a quarter eat processed or red meat at least three times every week. Some 38% drink at least three glasses of sweetened drinks every day.

There were no significant differences between the new data and data from 2010 on the percentage of Israelis who are overweight, dieting or wanting to lose weight.

The Central Bureau of Statistics collected the data throughout 2017 by interviewing 7,300 Israelis over the age of 20 in their homes.

Last year, an OECD study similarly found that over half of Israeli adults were overweight or obese.