David Haslam (GP and obesity specialist)

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

Dr David W Haslam is a general practitioner with a special interest in obesity and and cardiometabolic disease. He is a physician in Obesity Medicine at the Centre for Obesity Research at Luton & Dunstable Hospital, and Chair of the UK's National Obesity Forum (NOF).

Activities

Debate over obesity drugs efficacy

On 19 Nov 2007 a new study reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showed that anti-obesity treatments frequently failed to promote weight loss. Researchers had reviewed randomised controlled trials data and concluded orlistat, sibutramine and rimonabant were of only ‘modest’ help in long-term weight loss.

Average weight loss was less than 5%, below the thresholds for recommending a continuation of therapy by NICE. NICE advises anti-obesity drugs should be discontinued if patients have not lost at least 5% of their initial body weight after three months.

Study leader Professor Gareth Williams, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol, said the studies showed the jury was still out on the long-term efficacy and safety of anti-obesity treatments. He added that they should not be given to patients who cannot lose weight through lifestyle changes alone.

‘If patients can’t get on and take responsibility for their own lives, then flinging a pill at them is not going to do any useful work at all,’ he said.

Professor Williams also warned of ‘insidious collateral damage’ if GSK was successful in its bid to make orlistat available over the counter in Europe.

Dr David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, slammed the BMJ meta-analysis for being ‘full of errors’ and called it a ‘very bad’ paper. ‘Five percent weight loss is very clinically significant. What they are doing here is actually looking at average weight loss and some may not lose any weight but others may lose 10 or 20%.’Dr Haslam supported moves to make Orlistat available over the counter.

Affiliations

• National Obesity Forum - Chair
• Counterweight - board member
• Experts in Severe and Complex Obesity - a group set up to improve access and treatment for severe and complex obesity on the NHS
• Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen - Visiting Professor
• Chester University - Visiting Professor
• LighterLife UK Ltd - Chair of Medical Advisory Board
• Foundations - Chair. Foundations is a charity that aims to provide the foundation of healthy diet and lifestyle in schools and in Primary Care, to prevent obesity and eating disorders.
• Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School - Staff
• PCOS UK (the clinical wing of Verity, the charity for sufferers of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) - executive director and member of the Executive Council
• 76 Harley Street - leads its obesity services (since at least 2008)
• Primary Care Cardiovascular Journal, and the British Journal of Cardiology - member of both editorial boards
• iGlobalFitness - chairman, Medical Advisory Board, appointed 24 September 2010. iGlobalFitness describe themselves as 'the sustainable wellness experts'.

Books

• Maguire, Terry., and Haslam, D. (date), The Obesity Epidemic and Its Management: A Textbook for Primary Healthcare Professionals on the Understanding, Management and Treatment of Obesity. London, England, Pharmaceutical Press.
• Haslam, D., and Haslam, F., (2009) Fat, Gluttony and Sloth, Obesity in Art, Literature and Medicine. Liverpool, England, Liverpool University Press.