Globalisation:Democracy Institue:Obesity

The Myth Of An 'Obesity Tsunami'

No rise in the number of Overweight people?

Patrick Basham and his institute claims that the epidemic of weight related illness is 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. ‘The Myth of an obesity tsunami’ article by Patrick Basham, published by the Democracy Institute, claims that

‘Two studies produced by the US Centres 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 , a time 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 then 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 fallacy: '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 junk food 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 adversely affected by continuous advertisement by large fast food conglomerates 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) Basham and Luik state 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 early 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.'

The money behind Public health concerns

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 a lot 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 a lot 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 (whether government or health related) are making a lot of money from promoting it. He argues that this would not be considered such a problem if it were not for the profits being made by the government and other important non-governmental organisations which have a vested interest in the obesity issue.

A Fat Doctor in the White House?

Another article published by the Democracy Institute also raises questions over the actual health implications of being either obese or overweight. This article by Mary Sneyd entitled ‘A fat doctor in the White House?’ looks at figures which the institute claim that obesity does not severely hinder the health of the individual and that the health impact claimed by medical authorities and institutes are fundamentally flawed. For example this article which is essentially focussed on the reaction to an overweight politician (Dr Regina Benjamin) being selected by Barak Obama to become the Surgeon General of the United States. Due to the fact that she is overweight the White House faced criticism by groups who felt that she was not a suitable choice for the position. The Democracy institute again questions the link between weight and health by looking at the waist size of people in America and how this correlates with the likelihood of them becoming victims of major causes of death such as heart problems and cancer:

‘More strikingly, increases in overweight and obesity have been paralleled by falls in total cardiovascular mortality and mortality from coronary heart disease and stroke, as well as in the prevalence of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, which undermines the claims that overweight and obesity lead to higher rates of morbidity.’ .

This quote illustrates the ideas of the Institute which suggest that commonly associated aspects of obesity and being overweight such as links to more serious, potentially life threatening diseases such as heart disease are not as clear cut as some groups would suggest. For the democracy institute the evidence suggests that being overweight makes a minimal difference to the person’s chances of suffering from these problems.

Turning fat people into social outcasts

Another report by Basham and Luik which contradicts the views of many health professionals is the article ‘Turning Fat people into social outcasts’ published by the Democracy Institute in 2009. This report argues that a report published by Professor Michael McMahon in the Nuffield Health Report, which stated that fat celebrities set a bad example and act as a justification for people being overweight, is part of a campaign which they argue is a ‘denormalisation’ agenda against fat people.

Basham and Luik claim that the government in Britain has attempted to separate overweight and obese people from the rest of society by making them out to be a type of societal outcast:’ they will be placed apart from the rest of civilized society until and unless they learn to behave in the approved manner. ’.

Basham and Luik have argued therefore in this article that the British state and health authorities are not only trying to push the idea of the overweight being a health risk but also that they are a sort of ‘moral’ risk to society: ‘Denormalisation pushes the obese from being a health hazard to being a moral hazard’.

This is an interesting idea as it approaches the obesity issue from a different perspective. This is due to the fact that at this point Basham and Luik focus on the pressure being put on the overweight from a more moral perspective rather than just simply stating that they pose a risk to their own health and well being.

Conclusion

The views of the Democracy Institute regarding obesity are that the problem is greatly exaggerated. They say that this is due to the fact that public health bodies as well as state government have a vested interest in making sure that the problem remains in the spotlight. For Patrick Basham and John Luik therefore the actual health problems caused by being overweight or obese are not as significant as these groups make out and in fact they attempt to highlight evidence which shows that the differences in mortality and overall health between people who are overweight and people who are considered to be healthy by the government is very minimal.The Democracy Institute also asserts that there is no correlation between the amount of advertsing being used by fast food companies and the amount of people becoming overweight. They highlight their belief that the individual becomes fat due to an individual life choice (that of choosing to live a sedentary lifestyle) and not because they are subjected to advertising.