Dr. Jean Adams from the Centre for Diet & Activity Research, Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit has investigated why current weight loss interventions keep thin people thin, while fat people get bigger.
The University of Cambridge has released her new essay which indicates that while the implementation of a sugar tax is on the right track with regard to addressing the United Kingdom’s obesity epidemic and related lifestyle diseases, other measures will need to be implemented simultaneously, in order for the country to start losing the extra fat which is compromising its health.
Author Dr Jean Adams, from the Centre for Diet & Activity Research, Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit, pins down the obesity epidemic to a simple and well understood problem – the same problem which we have in South Africa – people are eating a diet that is high in processed food, sugar, fat and salt and low in fruits, vegetables and whole grains. However, she believes that there is more behind these dietary choices than a simple lack of will power.
The dietary causes of obesity and lifestyle disease are so simple to understand, and now so well known, that one has to wonder why we have not yet seen a change in the statistics. Why do the obesity and lifestyle disease graphs still only head in one direction – up? Dr Adams believes that she has the answer.
Why Health Interventions Aren’t Working on Fat People:
Dr Adams elaborates; “There are two different approaches to improving what people eat. Either you can provide information, support and encouragement – telling people about healthy diets and how to eat them. Or you can change how easy it is to eat a healthy diet. The Chancellor took almost everybody by surprise with his announcement of a tax on sugary drinks in his budget speech. This is a great step in the right direction. As UK Government finalises its long-awaited Childhood Obesity Strategy, we hope they will focus even more on changing how easy it is for people to eat well.”
She continues; “But the problem with giving people information, encouragement and support on eating well is that it will only work for the people who are ready and able to listen, engage and respond. Calorie labelling on food packages and menus is one, much discussed, way of giving consumers information. For calorie labelling to make a difference to what people eat, they have to notice it, read it, understand it, care about it, and be able to find an alternative that is tasty and convenient and still affordable. All this takes time, motivation and energy. To keep doing it each and every time you’re faced with a food decision requires the obsession and dedication you might only find in health fanatics (and dietary researchers).Which is the other problem with telling people what to eat: it probably works best in those people who need help the least.”
The Link Between Social Inequality & The Obesity Epidemic:
Dr Adams goes on to explain something about the U.K. which we can see happening all over the world; the substantial social inequalities which exist directly feed into the obesity epidemic. Middle and lower income brackets are experiencing a lack of opportunity with regard to healthy eating, due to; less income and limited access to the health resources to which higher income individuals are accustomed, and pressing socioeconomic concerns which result in a lower capacity to prioritize long term healthy eating and a stronger inclination to meet the immediate requirement of feeling full in the least expensive and most convenient way available to them – even as this results in the gain of unhealthy, excess fat.
“Typically, it is easier and cheaper to fill up on less healthy foods than it is to buy and prepare lots of vegetables and whole grains,” explains Dr Adams.
New research has shown that while mothers of all economic class brackets wish to feed their children well, the financial situation experienced by lower income brackets makes it difficult to implement this decision.
“One obvious reason why poorer people find it harder to engage with information is that they have less money and fewer of the resources that more affluent people take for granted. Finding healthier alternatives that are tasty, convenient and affordable is not always straightforward,” says Dr Adams.
How To Bring About Healthy Change:
She suggests that the way to create real change is for governments to make policy changes which influence the price of healthy foods, change the focus of all food production to a renewed focus on health, and dial down on the advertising of unhealthy foods:
“Alongside a tax on sugary drinks, extending restrictions on display and promotion of less healthy foods to all shops, and restricting advertising of junk foods on TV and elsewhere would all be expected to help more people eat better more often. Changing what goes in to processed foods may also help. Great progress has been made on reducing salt in processed food in the UK. Food manufacturers should be pushed harder to make further efforts like these. We also know that people eat more food when more is available to them – as either larger portions on their plate, or more opportunities to buy fast-food in their neighbourhood. Some local authorities are trying to stop new fast food outlets opening, but they face legal challenges which they don’t always have the resources to fight.”
In order to improve our situation, all people, at a grass-root level, need to take an interest in the implementation of the most effective health policies by their governments. We need to work together to create a reality where access to healthy food, and a higher quality of life, is seen as a human right and not a privilege.
“There is no simple solution to the diet and obesity ‘problem’ and we will need to use lot of different approaches simultaneously to make big changes. Hoping that everyone will be able do the right thing with enough information and encouragement is naïve. We need interventions that focus on changing the quality of food and that make good food obvious and easy for people to buy and eat.”