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Obesity: the big fat lie?

Tuesday 4th December 2007

OBESITY dominated the headlines this week, and how apocalyptic they were: “Half of Britons obese by 2050”, “14 years off your life” and frequent assertions that children will die before their parents unless action is taken.

All this was prompted by a report by Foresight, the Government's highly respected science think-tank. I have been closely involved in its fascinating two-year analysis of the research on obesity. And much of what I saw in the papers didn't reflect what it had said at all.

As part of its work, Foresight commissioned a report from Professor Klim McPherson, of Oxford University, to predict the impact of obesity. It revealed that on current trends 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children will be obese by 2050, driving an explosion in diseases such as type 2 diabetes. But it also showed that the impact on life expectancy is likely to be trivial. This reflects the continuing upward trend in life expectancy and better medical treatments that will save us from this fate.

That this generation will die before their parents as a result of obesity is a myth. It always was a myth and there is no science to support it. But it has become one of those statements taken up with gusto by the media, and assimilated into popular consciousness.

There are many other examples of myths becoming embedded: such as deodorants causing breast cancer and green potatoes causing spina bifida.

Death clearly has good headline value, but is there any need for exaggeration? The grim reality is that for all those who have type 2 diabetes as a result of obesity, there are many years of poor-quality life ahead, with serious implications for the NHS and the wider economy.

For me, the most startling revelation from the report is that, by 2050, 90 per cent of Britons will be overweight (as opposed to obese), which in itself carries a fourfold increased risk of diabetes, and this despite our efforts to slim. We are not more gluttonous or lazy than our forebears. But it is the combination of our environment and a body programmed to take advantage of food that is disastrous for weight control.

The obesity problem has gone beyond individual action and a wider change to our environment is needed to prevent us succumbing to the diseases that obesity brings in its wake. Such change will take decades and encompass many measures, such is the nature of the challenge ahead.