Globalisation:Democracy Institue:Obesity

The Myth Of An 'Obesity Tsunami' Patrick Basham Giving His Predictions For The Decade Patrick Basham and his institute claims that the epidemic of weight related illness are grossly exaggerated. He argues that the state is creating a system whereby people feel guilty about eating more than they are told by health organisations they should.

Two studies produced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association – one about obesity in children and adolescents, and the other about adult obesity – completely undermine the claims of an obesity epidemic.

He argues that between 1999 and 2008 , atime period during which it was widely asserted that obesity had become America's primary health concern, there was actually very little fluctuation in the number of obese people. Basham argues that a rise in the number of obese people was confined to a small group of obese children, mostly children.He points to the findings of the Health Survey of England. This survey found for example that levels of obesity amongst girls aged between 2 and 15 had decreased from 18% in 2005 to 15% in 2006.

He also argues that levels of obesity amongst girls has remained virtually unchanged since 2001.Basham is trying to put across the point that the claims of certain health groups regarding the link between advertising and obesity have been exaggerated or are in fact a complete fala cy: 'The findings of the English survey not only contradict the claim that we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic, but they also debunk the public health establishment’s erroneous claim that increases in children’s weight are due to junkfood advertising and too many sugary soda drinks. According to the survey, the root cause of any weight gains that one does see appear to lie in physical activity levels.'

Basham argues that the majority of people who are obese are so due to a lack of physical exercise and not because they are adversly affected by continuous advertisement by large fast food conglomorates as well as other companies selling food products which if consumed in large amounts can lead to weight problems.

Basham and Luik have also written for several other institutions professing their belief that claims of an ‘epidemic’ are exaggerated and that the evidence does not actually point to this fact. For example writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) states that:

‘The claims, both in the media and in professional publications, about an epidemic, it’s causes, consequences and cure often exceed the scientific evidence and mistakenly suggest an unjustified degree of certainty’

Basham and Luik also question in this article what really constitutes overweight. By this they look at the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and mortality. Conventional wisdom would suggest that the higher the bmi the higher the likelihood of a premature or earlier death.The two writers from the Democracy institute would however argue that the evidence upon which this commonly held line of thought is centred does not support the conclusions which have been drawn:

‘…the study on which the report is based does not support these linkages. It found that the death risks for men with a body mass index of 19-21 were the same as those for men who were overweight and obese (29-31)'

Other than studies regarding the belief that Patrick Basham and John Luik have regarding the lack of a correlation between levels of obesity and the amount and type of food consumed, they also argue that obesity figures in relation to children are not supported by evidence. The pair have also raised questions of doubt regarding the relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes. Conventional ways of thinking point to the well researched opinion that the higher the level of obesity the higher the amount of diabetes present. Luik and Basham however disagree with this assumption and argue that there is evidence which suggests that diabetes may be an inherited genetic trend and not the result of eating to much fast food and having a sedentary lifestyle:

'The pair's research - Fat Kids? The Obesity Epidemic Myth - also pours doubts on links between obesity and diabetes, claiming that type 2 diabetes, which is generally accepted as a disease which affects overweight people, is genetic in origin.'

An interesting point made by Basham regarding the popular perceptions of what causes obesity is the idea that this subject is kept on the agenda by powerful interests who make alot of money from creating this 'myth' of an epidemic. Basham puts forward the idea that from the position which he argues from (that of a sceptical position regarding the causes of obesity) there is not alot of money to be made:

"There's not a lot of money in trying to debunk obesity, but a huge amount in making sure it stays a big problem,"

Basham is basically arguing that the public health concern over obesity and its causes is kept on the agenda due to the fact that certain organisations (wether government or health related) are making alot of money from promoting it.