Scientists warn Scots they are ‘living dangerously’

A study into the lifestyles of Scottish people has found they are endangering their health by smoking, drinking and eating too much on average.

The study published in the journal BMC Public Health found almost the entire adult population of Scotland – 97.5 per cent – are likely to be cigarette smokers, heavy drinkers, physically inactive, overweight or have a poor diet.

A strong association between the presence of several of these risk factors and low incomes was also found.

In addition, David Conway from the University of Glasgow suggested that the real situation may be even worse than the figures suggest, as the behaviours were self-reported.

He pointed to results from an analysis comparing self-reported alcohol intake figures from the Scottish Health Surveys with alcohol sales estimates, which suggest that the survey may have underestimated true alcohol consumption rates by “as much as 50 per cent”.

Mr Conway explained: “Respondents might tend to give answers that would convey more favourable behaviours.”