Obesity issues
NATURAL CAUSES Added to this already heady concoction of issues surrounding obesity is the discovery of the ‘fat gene’, that for some off ers an explanation for the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. Last May, scientists at the Medical Research Centre
(MRC) announced the discovery of a genetic link between obesity and rapid weight gain in babies as young as six weeks old. T e gene, shown to cause obesity, also provided babies with greater protection against ‘failure to thrive’ – a potentially harmful condition of very slow weight gain. T is genetic protection in early life could explain why many people are prone to being overweight as adults. T e research conducted by the MRC Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge followed more than 7,000 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children study, at the University of Bristol. T e research found that children with just one extra
copy of an obesity gene were 17 per cent more likely to be obese in childhood, while their risk of ‘failure to thrive’ was reduced by eight per cent, compared to those with fewer of the genetic variants. However, children with multiple copies of the genes would be at even greater risk of obesity. Dr Ken Ong, a Paediatric Endocrinologist at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, and co-author of the study commented. ‘Babies and children who gain weight rapidly during the fi rst year of life are at increased risk of obesity.’ Ong said: ‘While the infl uence may be genetic, parents should be mindful of this when considering their child’s diet and other environmental factors like exercise, to ensure they’re not placed at even greater risk.’ Most commentators believe exercise is the key
to reversing the damaging eff ects of obesity, with the lack of activity in children being a prime reason for growing weight problems. Fry believes physical education in schools should play a much greater role and should in no circumstances fall victim to cutbacks. ‘T e long term benefi ts of schemes like SSP have not only shown how benefi cial sport is as part of education, but also how they off er aff ordable sport for many children in low income households,’ believes Fry. ‘If we remove this, we are making exercise harder to access, which will result in children losing touch with a regular exercise programme, resulting in long-term weight problems.’
ADDRESSING THE CRISIS Both the government and leisure sector are ideally placed, Fry believes, to infl uence the culture of exercise today. London Mayor Boris Johnson’s vision to create cycle superhighway arteries feeding into the capital, coupled with the successful launch of Barclays bike hire throughout central London, is one of the most recent examples of public money helping nurture a culture of healthier living in urban areas. Such programmes off er a clear benefi t in promoting exercise in adults, yet the scourge of obesity needs to be curbed from the bottom up, encouraging an exercise culture in children too, Fry believes. ‘Education plays a crucial part in the health of
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children, which explains why obesity levels are higher among those in the lower ends of the socio economic scale,’ he explains. ‘Our remit is simple really – it’s about changing attitudes and increasing awareness about eating well. T e school years are where the real groundwork needs to be done. Promoting good health needs to be driven by government,’ Fry continues. In the US, specialist centres such as the Pritikin
Group focused on clients who, in some cases, were carrying 50 per cent of their body weight as fat. T e US obesity lobby is now a powerful force protecting the rights of a signifi cant slice of the population. Unsurprisingly, the obesity lobby believes the softly
softly strategy should be the way forward. ‘We need a carrot, not an iron bar,’ declared the spokesman for the International Size Acceptance Association on a recent airing of BBC One’s T e Big Questions, which confronted the issue of whether ‘gluttony should be punished’. Should a fat tax be introduced was the question posed to the audience. Fry was cautious: ‘We have to be very careful about bringing in something that disadvantaged people cannot aff ord.’
LEFT Is exercise the simple solution to the obesity crisis?
BELOW Are we born with a fat gene?
About the author: Tom James is a freelance journalist
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