Globalisation:National Obesity Forum

Emma Patrick Rachel Cunningham

http://www.nationalobesityforum.org.uk/

Background

The National Obesity Forum was created in 2000 by a group of health professionals and is a registered charity (1109600).

The main aims of the NOF are to:

-Increase the public focus on obesity and develop more awareness about the health implications.

-To help educate more people on the topic of obesity and health from an earlier age.

-To encourage the Government to make tackling obesity a priority, in order to save the NHS money in future years.

They state that obesity has a 'knock on effect on the economy, industry, education and government', and so great importance should be placed on the issue.

The NOF is currently chaired by Dr David Haslam who took over in 2008.

Dr Colin Waine was the chairperson before this, from 2005-2008.

Dr Ian Campbell was the founder, and very first chair of the NOF, and quit in 2005.

Views on tackling obesity

The National Obesity Forum advocate many ways of tackling obesity.

-They advise increasing activity levels, and put importance on making exercise ‘fun’ and easy by focussing on ordinary activities such as gardening, shopping, and sports.

-They also advise making a personal plan to suit each individual.

-They provide information on how to have a healthy diet and put importance on portion control.

- Advice is also given on 'positive thinking' and how this can impact a person's ability to lose weight.

The NOF also back more drastic and often risky means of weight loss, including; very low calorie diets, medication, meal replacements, and even surgery.

With regards to weight loss medication (or 'Anti-Obesity Medication), the NOF mention two specific drugs - Sibutramine(Reductil) and Orlistat(Alli).

One of these drugs - Orlistat - was actually the first 'over the counter' weight loss drug available, and was produced by Glaxosmithkline, which is one of the NOFs parter organisations.

The NOF is highly funded by pharmaceutical companies, however, there have been disputes regarding whether weight loss medication actually works. Former President of the NOF, Dr Ian Campbell, resigned from his post after stating that the forum places too much importance on weight loss drugs, and not enough on putting measures in place to prevent obesity in the first place. Dr Campbell claimed that the forum had changed direction and did not have the same outlook as it did when it began.

The NOF seem to contradict themselves when they provide weightloss recommendations. For example, on their website, advice is given on how to lose weight sensibly, and how following a 'fad diet' is wrong and ineffective in the long term. They describe a 'fad diet' as one which:

• recommends strange quantities of one food e.g. grapefruit, meat, eggs, cabbage
• promotes magical foods to 'burn' fat
• suggests rigid menus, limiting food choices
• advises food should only be eaten in certain combinations
• suggests rapid weight loss of more than two pounds per week
• doesn't address barriers to losing weight
• doesn't advise people with medical conditions to seek medical advice before starting a diet

However, some of these descriptions are actually describe the very low calorie diets (VLCD) which the NOF advise and are affiliated with. Plans such as 'Slim Fast' and 'Lighter Life' claim to make a client lose a large amount of weight in a relatively short period of time, yet the NOF claim to be against rapid weight loss. Also, many of the VLCD plans which the NOF are affiliated with also provide a rigid menu and cut out many foods, something which the NOF also seem to disapprove of. 'Slim Fast' and 'Lighter Life' use meal replacements rather than 'real' food. There appears to be a conflict of interest here, where the NOF both encourage and discourage VLCDs. The issue of VLCDs is a controversial one, and as such the NOF have released an eight page long statement stating their position on VLCDs.

Finances and Funding

Income for the NOF in 2009 was £297,930, with an output of £276,352, which was much higher than the finances for the previous year. In 2008, the NOF had its lowest income in four years, at £198,140, and expenditure exceeded this at £220,402. 2007 was the highest earning year in the past four years, with an income of £337,175 and an output of £227,456. In 2006, the income was £283,717 and the overall expenditure was higher at £380,892.

The main funding sources for the Forum are in the form of grants, donations and the income from the Annual Conference on Obesity held each October. The company received a total of £38,898 for the year ending 31/10/09 from Voluntary sources and 40,025 for the period 1/4/08 to 31/10/08. For that period £15,000 came from Glaxosmith Kline and 10, 000 from GoLower. For the year ending 31/10/09 Abbot Laboratories gave £5000, the Cambridge Diet £10,000, BMl Thornbury £5,000, Ethicon Endo-surgery £1,175, LA Sports4 Kids £5,000 and Lipotrim £10,000 in the form of grants. A further £61,000 in donations were made up from Sanofi Aventis who gave £25,000, Abbott Laboratories £5,000, Weight Watchers £10,000, Vita Clinics UK Ltd £1,000, Lighterlife UK Ltd £5,000 and Roche Products Ltd £15,000 for Raising Public and Government Awareness and Educating Health Care Professionals.

The NOF website is funded by Abbott Laboratories, Sanofi-Aventis Ltd. and Roche.

A Front Group for the Pharmaceuticals Industry?

• Globalisation: National Obesity Forum - Trustees and Staff

• Globalisation: National Obesity Forum - Partner Organisations

• Globalisation: National Obesity Forum - Collaborative Work

NOF Conference

The NOF’s conferences take place every year and claim to be discussing obesity and the ways in which obesity are being tackled. The NOF’s conferences have been running for 10 years as of October 2010. The two conferences that have been looked at are the 2009 and 2010 conferences. Both conferences are said to be aimed at certain people in certain professions. The professions that both conferences are aimed at are all Healthcare Professionals including Government Representatives, Policy Makers, Healthcare Promotion Specialists, Health Information Services, Food, Pharmaceutical & Leisure Industries and the Media

The 2009 conference was held at the Royal College of Physicians and the title of the conference was ‘Obesity – A Time to get serious’. This conference according to the NOF’s own website was said to be ‘another sell out’ thus indicating that prior to 2009 there had been previous sell outs. This conference was said to be aimed at people across the ‘health spectrum’. These people were nurses, surgeons, GP’s and many more. Also included were food representatives from Pizza Hut and Pret a Manger. The aim of this conference according to the NOF website was to highlight the relationship between the health spectrum and the food companies. This relationship was to be highlighted as being a step forward in encouraging healthy eating through the food industries such as Pizza Hut and Pret a Manger and thus reducing obesity as it will be tackled from all angles.

The 2010 conference ‘Y W8 2 LOSE W8’ was said to be aimed at ‘targeting obesity, diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome'.This conference also celebrated their tenth anniversary as a forum helping in the improvement of health. This conference also took place at the Royal College of Physicians in London, just as the 2009 conference did. The 2010 conference was aimed at all healthcare professions, encouraging people who have an interest in improving health to go along to the conference.

Contact Information

Address:

First Floor

6a Gordon Road

Nottingham

NG2 5LN

Telephone: 0115 846 2109

Fax: 0115 846 2329

Email: info@nof.uk.com

Website: http://www.nationalobesityforum.org.uk/