Obesity on the rise

By Eugene Byrne

One would have needed to be staying on the moon recently not to have noticed the amount of coverage in the media given to levels of obesity, in particular - rising amongst children and young people in general.

By all accounts, we as a people are more reliant on fast food outlets as the hustle and bustle of modern society leaves us with less time to cook, not to mention taking regular exercise. More of our leisure time is being spent in front of the television or computer, where the only exertion is applied to the remote control or mouse. Warnings of the impact of obesity are not new. In 1974, an editorial in the Lancet identified obesity as “the most important nutritional disease in the affluent countries of the world.”

However, only recently such warnings have mobilized official concern. The analytic and policy representations of this issue remain fed through a generally narrow media narrative due to a variety of factors. The immense lobbying power of the food industry, the attention paid to personal appearance rather than health, the individualistic nature of the discourse around diet/dieting and health all contribute to this problem.

Also, the inability of commentators to address the structural changes in society which, more so than individualistic factors, explain the patterns of diet and exercise and consequential health effects facing local populations.

You don’t have to see over-weight children or adults every time you go out to your local McDonalds to be aware that this problem exists and in fact it’s rare to see flab hanging over any of their seats. The message is that if we keep on eating this fast and convenient food, not only will you be faced with this prospect, but the seating will have to be strengthened to carry your mass!

Irish and British culture has been following the USA in many respects. Young adults (aged 19 to 24) are the group most likely to have adapted to the new commercial cultural influences and to consume energy-dense fast foods, typically fried chicken, burgers, kebabs and savoury snacks, together with high sugar carbonated soft drinks. Between 1991 and 2000, obesity levels in the US, according to the accepted definition, rose 60%. Around 61% of Americans are overweight and one in five are obese.

National surveys are indicating that the eating habits of parents and other carers will be those that your children will imitate. It’s what they see which will influence them, not only in terms of food but also actitivities.

Children whose parents exercise are more likely to spend their leisure time outdoors playing football rather than indoors with computer games. According to a study by the American University of Buffalo, a child’s risk of obesity doubles for every hour of television he/she watches and drops 10% for every hour of exercise they get daily. As children grow their nutritional needs are much greater than those of adults, and the consequences of a poor diet will be long-lasting. So if you can set a good example with your forkmanship, you have a fighting chance at countering the millions of pounds a year the UK food industry is spending to sell a chubby lifestyle to you and your kids.

So far, the marketers are winning. According to government figures, couch potato lifestyles have made more than 20% of fifteen year olds obese. In the late 80’s the figure was just 5%.

Obesity is a worldwide problem which requires a global, as well as a national, perspective. What must be stated firmly is that preventing obesity requires a whole society approach. It is not simply, or even primarily, a medical matter, although the national health services can be helpful in dealing with a range of dietary or lifestyle problems, and can assist with the diseases associated with obesity.

In the long term, money spent on prevention is well worth the cost. Each year about 74 billion Euros is spent on treating cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the European Union. CVD also costs an additional 106 billion a year in lost production of goods and services because of premature death and disability. These costs will most certainly rise if we don’t tackle this problem now.

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