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

Trustees

• Dr Hilary Jones Patron

• Jane DeVille-Almond Vice Chair

• Dr David Haslam - GP, Hertfordshire Chair

• Shamil Chandaria - Honorary Patron

• Anne Diamond Honorary - Patron

• Debbie Cook

• Dr Matthew Capehorn - Clinical Director

• Tam Fry - Honorary Chairman of The Child Growth Foundation

• Paul Sacher - Research Director, MEND Programme

• Dr Colin Waine - Patron

• Graham Philips

National Obesity Forum Trustees

Funding

Sources

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.

Child Poverty Action Group campaign for free school meals – this group, known as ‘38 degrees: people, power, change’ began in 2009 and have since been involved in ensuring the Irag Inquiry be held in public and have been in discussion with the new coalition government for a ban on private lobbying.

Children’s Food Campaign – a campaign supporting food growing activities for children. This is part of the larger group ‘Sustain’. They are headed by approximately one hundred organisations including local, regional, national and international groups.

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.