Globalisation:National Obesity Forum

Emma Patrick Christina McDonald Rachel Cunningham

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

History

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.

People

• Globalisation: National Obesity Forum - Trustees and Staff

• Globalisation: National Obesity Forum - Funding

• Globalisation: National Obesity Forum - Collaborative Work

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.

Conflicts of Interest

Sanofi-Aventis LTD is one of the NOF’s sponsors, yet the anti-obesity medication that they produced was proven to be unsafe and the drugs were withdrawn following a series of reported serious side-affects. Rimonabant (Acompila) was prescribed to ninety seven thousand people in the UK. Its circulation was suspended in October 2008, after only four months on the market, as it was found to be dangerous to many of those who took it. It was found that between June and August 2008, five of those who were taking the drug committed suicide, and many others experienced psychiatric problems. The risk of such problems, especially depression, was increased when the patient had a history of mental health problems. Dr Colin Waine, who was chairman of the NOF at the time, was disapointed that the drug had to be withdrawn as he found that many of his patients were doing well on it and had experienced no problems, and did not appear to be concerned about the drug.

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 conference. 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.