Correspondence |
The obesity epidemic
Sir,The recent article by Skidmore and Yarnell1 deserves some comments. Similar papers were published by other authors in the recent years.2,3 All claim that the increasing prevalence of obesity and overweight (in the UK and other developed countries) has become a public concern and a relevant medical (and social) problem. The data are impressive: nearly 1:3 Americans meet the definition of ‘obese’, and by including overweight individuals, we reach 60% or more of the population. This is associated with an ‘enormous burden of chronic diseases, impaired physical function and quality of life, at least 300 000 premature deaths and at least 90 billion dollars in direct health care costs annually in the USA’.2 These data are, again, impressive and alarming; the authors are right to call for action directed at physicians as well as to patients. The promotion of healthy eating and regular physical activity are important for the prevention of obesity, as well as education on good nutrition. We agree entirely with these considerations, but are they sufficient? We fear not.
In fact, we wonder how these alarming data can be coupled with the claims of many influential politicians and economists that our present standard of living is beyond any reasonable questioning, and that we should increase our expenses in order to maintain our economies. These statements are increasingly obsessive and compelling, both in Europe and in the US, with the general support of the media. We wonder how we can hope to combat and defeat the tendency to obesity and overweight, intimately related to the comfort and opulence of Western society, while there is a continuous invitation to consume more and to maintain unaltered a standard of living that includes wastage of every kind.
Of course, we can continue to hope that people will learn to eat less and better, but we doubt that this policy will achieve concrete results, unless influential people such as politicians, economists, journalists and pundits can be persuaded to help the medical community in the fight against obesity and the many other diseases (such as cancer) related to our way of living.
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Dipartimento di Medicine e Specialità Mediche—Medicina I
Dipartimento di Economia Politica Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia Modena Italy e-mail: deleon{at}unimo.it
References
1. Skidmore PML, Yarnell JWG. The obesity epidemic: prospects for prevention. Q J Med 2004; 97:817–25
2. Manson JAE, Skerrett PJ, Greenland P, et al. The escalating pandemics of obesity and sedentary lifestyle. Arch Intern Med 2004; 164:249–58.
3. Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, et al. Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999–2000. JAMA 2002; 288:1723–7.
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