Obesity Facts Blog

This is really two Blogs in one having read in the Daily Telegraph two different article in which both contain references to school.

The first article drew my attention to the fact that 1 in every 10  children entering British schools today is already obese at 5 years old

Presumably then, for numbers of obese children to increase as they grow up, schools must be responsible, (as that well known dietician and nutritionist  Jamie Oliver believes), for this increase.

However, if children are started on the path to obesity at a young age by those who ‘care’ for them as toddlers it is not surprising that by the time they go through the school system their tastes do not change.
Walk past any high school at dinner time and you will see nearly half the school spending their dinner money at the local fish and chip shop/take away and eating them as they wander around and chat. it makes you wonder why the dining room was invented.

So are the schools part of the problem, should we demand that children are kept in school at dinner time to eat the healthy food that schools are now asked to provide. We know that prisoners in jail are better fed than school children perhaps we should treat children the same as prisoners.

Schools are there to educate and inform. Teachers and other staff already have the extra burden of being social workers for abused, shy, and bullied children lets not make them into dietitians as well. They already have enough on their plates.

The second article was about exercise in school and its effect on a child’s B.M.I. (Body Mass Index)

There are sporty children and there are children who shudder whenever Physical Education is mentioned. Most of us will have been forced into a cross-country run or singled out to do athletics knowing that we won’t do very well, and been told that exercise will ‘get you fit and trim’.

However, recent research at the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth has found that doing the recommended 1 hour per day of exercise, less than half the boys and only one in 8 of the girls had a change in their weight.

For some children therefore, exercise does not mean a change in B.M.I.  A friend of mine was large and ‘thickset’ as a child and she always claimed she was ‘big boned’ because no matter how she exercised she stayed the same weight and size. However she was fit.

Exercise, whether it makes a change  of shape or not, does bring benefits of health and fitness to children.

The report from the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth concluded that physical activity is associated with  a “progressive improvement in metabolic health but not… (necessarily)…with a change in B.M.I or fatness.

This report seems to suggests that diet alone is the root cause of obesity in many children.

It is important however, to remember that health only comes with exercise and activity in what ever form, without it there is the everpresent risk, to those with high B.M.I, of heart desease and diabetes, stroke and cancer.

On British TV at the moment there is an advert in which a very fat man does a gymnastic turn across a gym. floor. This could be computer enhanced but I like to think of it as real.

Since the 1970’s the amount of people dying of heart disease has been decreasing yet a survey out today is finding that it is back on the increase.

It seems that women under 50 years of age, in Britain, are becoming more susceptable to heart disease not only from the usual cigarette intake and lack of exercise but because they are obese.

Wherever you walk in a town or shopping centre you will see women, and it is increasingly women under 50 yrs of age, with big bottoms, large stomachs, wobbly arms under tight t shirts and pudgy faces.

It is no wonder heart disease in women under 5o is increasing

But men, you may not get complacent about this, as your risk from heart disease is also very visible as you walk down the street.

Diet and nutrition are not the same thing.

Diet is about the food you eat.
This includes individual dietary choices which may be more or less healthy depending on the food you like.

A particular diet may be chosen to gain weight (Sumo wrestlers), or to lose weight (flat racing Jockeys)
Changing your diet changes the energy balance in your body and this can increase or decrease the amount of fat in your body.

“The Western Pattern Diet” is the name given to the dietary habits of the developed and increasing undeveloped world. It is characterised by high intake of; red meat, sugary deserts, high fat dairy products, refind grains and high sugar drinks.

Nutrition is about
The benefits gained to the body from food, in whatever form.

Milk and Dairy - Milk, Cheese, yoghurts, fromage frais. All have many nutrients and are rich in calcium. (Bones and teeth)

Meat Fish and Eggs - poultry, pulses, nuts, seeds, soya. All rich in protein. (builds amino acid chains and repairs body, grows fingernails)

Fruit and Veg - Fibre, vitamins and minerals and low on calories. (Fruit eaters have less chance of heart disease andsome cancers)

Bread, Cereals, pasta, rice, noodles and potatoes- all starchy carbohydrates for energy. (unrefined is best - wholegrain higher in fibre to keep you fuller longer)

Water - the body does not digest the fibre so drink lots to stay free running.

(adapted from BBC Health)

Not so very long ago I watched a documentary programme about how we eat what we eat and why we eat it.
It had loads of surveys and experiments but one that really stuck in my head was the popcorn experiment.

Visitors to their local cinema were given buckets of popcorn. Those who sat on the left of the cinema were given small buckets and those on the right were given the ultra big bargain bucket.
After the film was over people were asked to hand in their buckets (full or empty).

Nearly all the buckets were empty with a few grains left in the bottom.

You might have expected that the big bucket side would have had more than they could eat, but what this showed was that regardless of the amount of popcorn in the buckets, the popcorn had been eaten, because it was there to eat.

Personally I can’t stand popcorn, I think it tastes like sugared cardboard. However having popped some at home to watch a family DVD I had one or two handfuls just because it was handed round.

So it seems that maybe it is in human nature to be a little gluttonous, just make sure that you know when to stop.

When I was younger and the bullies parents came into school you would always hear them say things like ” your talking about a different child, my child wouldn’t do that.”, ” It must have been the other one that started it” Some parents just couldn’t belive what they were being told about their child.

In the same way

Even though it is obvious that their child is fat and getting fatter some parents just cannot perceive that their child is anything other than perfect and will continue to feed and pamper thinking nothing is wrong. “Hasn’t he’s got a healthy appetite” “She’s so round and cuddly”
Often the parents are large themselves so their children are bound to look thinner in comparison.

Final note; However it should be said that Fat, thin, bully or victim - some parents just didn’t care!

In a recent study in america it was found that weight loss surgery was better than the standard treatment for Type 2 diabetes found in obese patients.

The study which involved “gastric binding” surgery found that the treatment worked, because  the amount of weight that was lost was greater than the medically treated group.

Type 2 diabetes, which is generally brought on by obesity, was  found to be less severe with the loss of 10% of body weight.

The group in the study were, however, in the early stages of the disease and it was expressed that cases with longer exposure the diabetes might be irreversible  no matter how much weight was lost.

(New York Times Jan 23 2008)

So often seen as the place of style, chic and a thin population, France has suddenly realised that a growth in the consumption of junk food, along with the traditional foods of patisseries, creme anglaise and frois gras, has led to a growth in waistlines.

In the last 10 years, the amount of obese people in France has soared. A new work ethic and a losing of traditional mealtimes is seen to be part of the problem.

By no means can the rise in obesity  be compared to the British and American adult populations ,  but an astonishing rise in childhood obesity (many french children are eating ‘frites’ ( chips) every day), has got them worried.

They have initiated a programme called ‘EPODE’, which has been piloted in 10 French towns. Presented like a game it should appeal to the children and the generation of parents who wish to return to traditional French values have embraced it. Regular monitoring will be taking place with the results to be issued in 2009. It will encourage these towns to continue to eat healthily and exercise.

The French hope that a community working together and encouraging each other will lose those pounds.

(adapted from Telegraph magazine March 8 2008 -Victoria Lambert)

“Only two weeks ago the department of health was celebrating a fall in heart deaths.\it was a short lived party. Sedentary lifestyles, junk food and obesity among younger people have been identified as the cause if rising deaths. But complacency is a greater problem.

The main reason for the fall in heart deaths is reported to be because of improved screening, diagnosis and treatments…. this has led people to believe that treatments will continue to deliver reductions in deaths and ill health, no matter what their lifestyles. This trust is seriously misplaced.
(Vivienne Parry -The Times Sat March 1 2008)

Many people think that the terms being overweight and being obese are the same thing. This is not true!

Being overweight has to do with carrying extra weight from bone, muscle, fat and/or water.
Your weight can be a result of your metabolism (the way your body changes food and oxygen to energy), your environment, your habits and behavior, your genetic history
and other factors.

Being obese is more of a concern as it is a condition resulting from having high amounts of extra body fat.
Although this can be a result of genetics and hormones, eating and drinking to excess without exercise is usually responsible.

adapted from National Heart blood and lungs institute

There are conflicting arguments as to responsibility for this growing world problem.

Do we become overweight and obese because of…

Our own personal choice; We have decided to eat and drink to excess. We have the ability to control all other aspects of our lives. We decide by ourselves whether to drive, go running, stay in and watch T.V, go to bed when we feel like it, so surely we are able stop eating and drinking too much and do something about it ourselves.

Food manufacturers and Producers; For years they have bombarded us with ‘E numbers’, additives, salt, sugar, and high fat in the food we buy from shops and supermarkets.

Fast food and Takeaways; Quick and easy there is no reason to even get out of your seat if the phone is nearby. Cooked quickly, eaten quickly, convenience food containing - who knows what!

Advertisements; Everywhere we look there are promotions and pictures of eating places, the latest fast food menus, and new food products, as we walk down the street we are constantly tempted. I’m sure you’ve heard people say “oooh look at that, I could just have one of those” whether hungry or not.

Lack of political intervention; It’s the governments fault for not cracking down on the
manufacturers, the advertisers, the shops and the producers. They should have constantly evaluated and watched what was being given to the population and are neglegent in not stopping the problems sooner.

Genetics; It has been proposed that obesity can be inherited. Tests on twins their lifestyle, nurture and nature, have not revealed to any great degree that obesity stems from overeating and lack of exercise.

So who is responsible?
Is the answer - all of the above ?