Professor Philip James, the head of an international taskforce on obesity, has said that we as a planet, as well as a nation, need to completely reassess the way in which we regard obesity. The obesity epidemic, he says, needs to be addressed with the same sense of importance and urgency with which we now regard the problem of Global Warming. Obesity, of course, does not have the same (supposedly) trendy credentials as saving the Amazon Rain Forest. The threat to human kind, however, is just as profound and disturbing.
When one looks at the statistics, it is hard to disagree with Professor James. At this moment in time, obese children outnumber malnourished youngsters by two to one and the figure is growing. This is already having a devastating effect on health, with the problem set to worsen considerably in the near future. By the year 2030 the number of people on the planet with type II diabetes is expected to have doubled to the staggering figure of 366 million people.
Professor James suggests that it is political leaders who need to grab the reins to prevent this epidemic from worsening. In the last few years we have seen fast food retailers particularly vilified as largely responsible in the huge rise in obesity. The individual has also been criticised for not taking personal responsibility for their weight, either as a result of over eating or a lack of exercise.
Professor James says that this ‘blame mentality’ serves no practical purpose, and that we need to change the environmental factors that are making the world fat. He says that the fat content of food needs to be clearly labelled on all packaging, that advertisers have to be prevented from targeting children and that we as a planet should be encouraged to get out of out of our cars.
New research from Scandinavia shows that a child’s weight at the age of 7 to 12 indicates whether they are going to die early from obesity related illnesses.