Obesity

‘For the first time in history, the world’s total of overweight people equals the total of those who are underfed. Up to 1.2bn people eat more than they need, and as many go hungry each day.’ (The Guardian, March 2000).

It is estimated that more than half the British population and two thirds of the American population are overweight or obese. The past twenty years has also seen a dramatic increase in childhood obesity with twice as many American children and three times as many adolescents being overweight now compared with 1980. Obesity is the second leading killer of Americans, beaten only by cigarette smoking. What is the reason for such a dramatic increase in this epidemic?

Consider one of the most severe cases of obesity in Britain, that of Barry Austin. Barry was obsessed with eating, saying that food was his god and he worshipped it. He weighed 318kg at the age of 29 and clearly consumed more food than his body required or was able to burn. Typically, for breakfast Barry would eat four packets of crisps and half a box of biscuits. After lunch, from the chip shop, he ate several plates of beans on toast, fruit-cakes and more crisps. For tea he would have 6 lamb chops, 12 roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy, pie and custard. Finally for supper he had five large hamburgers. This was all washed down with 12 litres of cola each day. Can today’s society really feel sorry for someone like Barry? Is he simply another obesity case who practices two of the deadly sins, greed and gluttony? Or is it something he cannot help and should certainly not be ‘blamed’ for?

Obesity is a disease and it can lead to heart disease, diabetes and an increased risk of cancer. More than a quarter of cancer cases worldwide are related to being overweight, while over three-quarters of sufferers of type II diabetes are also obese. Type II diabetes is the form of diabetes that usually occurs in adults. Sufferers develop a resistance to their own insulin and become unable to regulate the sugar levels in their blood. However, in recent years this previously adult-only disease is being diagnosed increasingly in teenagers and even in children. Some experts insist that it’s not just how much fat you have but where you carry it that affects your risk of developing other diseases. Men and post-menopausal women have an “apple-shaped” distribution of fat, carrying it predominantly inside the abdomen. Pre-menopausal women tend to have a “pear-shaped” distribution, with flab on the thighs and buttocks. “Apples” carry a higher risk of developing heart disease and diabetes than do “pears”.

There is a paradox here. How can nations like