Smoking or obesity: Which? is worse
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 16:45 Seven or eight years ago I gave a speech to sixth formers at ISOS.
I was asked not to talk exclusively about tobacco so I wrote a speech (which I have plundered several times since) entitled 'Food is the new tobacco'.
In the intervening years what seemed fanciful to some ears is fast becoming reality. For example, I have just been sent information about a conference being held in Manchester next year:
At Obesity and Related Conditions: Tackling an Epidemic we will be exploring what action can be taken to combat raising obesity levels and our expert programme of speakers will be examining what really works. The agenda will debate the key issues associated with individual behaviour, government legislation, food production and labelling, physical activity, childhood obesity and medical and financial interventions. A new approach is needed to help to tackle the causes and consequences of excess weight and help support individuals to make healthier lifestyle choices.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Confirmed speakers include Richard Cienciala, Deputy Director of Health and Wellbeing, Department of Health; Professor Mike Kelly PHD, Director, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE); and Dr Hilary Cass, President, Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health Society.
The full list of invited speakers includes not a single person from the food industry.
Consumers are represented by one speaker - but wait, it's Sue Davies, chief policy adviser of the consumer group Which? and a quick check on Google reveals that Davies is a strong supporter of traffic-light labelling which is opposed by many people within the food industry.
You might think that this would provide a good opportunity for a healthy debate but that's not something the organisers of Obesity and Related Conditions: Tackling an Epidemic appear to have much interest in.
In fact, as far as I can tell, it's the usual closed shop.
One thing is certain. Which? doesn't represent me or, I am sure, millions of other consumers, as the following clearly demonstrates:
Government 'failing' on obesity crisis Which? has warned (Daily Telegraph)
Reader Comments (4)
When, precisely, did Which? become some kind of health advisory service? I thought they were a consumer-led organisation devoted to trying and testing all variety of consumer goods in order to inform people which is the best toaster to buy, or the most efficient washing machine. They should stick to that - there's more than enough health "nudgers" out there already who have established themselves as experts on how we should all live for there to be room for any more!
There is new study out in the USA on obesity and its main conclusions was:
"We find that people actually cope with stigma by eating more food."
"Shame is about feeling bad about who you are," Savelle-Rocklin said. That message "is unbearable and intolerable" to most, and those who quell negative emotions by eating "are going to turn to food.... It's just a recipe for disaster."
Like the denormalisation of smokers it will have no effect.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-obesity-20120912,0,5230176.story
Once again the "science" is wrong. Fatty foods do not make you fat.The body can readily convert carbohydrates into fat.(and vice versa).Also there is no clear evidence that dietary lipds are directly related to blood lipids. There is however compelling evidence that LOW blood levels of LDL Cholesterol (that's what the doctors are calling bad cholesterol)significantly increase mortality from arterioscelosis, heart disease. Just the opposite of the NHS advice!
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/sep/28/japan-study-high-ldl-has-lower-death-rate-than/
Once again the myth of health costs of obesity is perpetuated. The £5billion figure ignores the health savings from shorter life expectancies, and the fact that everyone eventually dies of something - often something more expensive than a condition caused by obesity. In terms of health resources, the "healthy" consume the most over a life time, followed by the obese, with smokers consuming the least. This has repeatedly been demonstrated. See the paper referred to here, for example.
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050029