Fit for life: why fat is not the
problem
February 24, 2005
YOU can be fat and healthy. It sounds like heresy,
but it's the message of a leading Sydney nutritionist
and author, who says our medicos and politicians have
created a moral panic about obesity that could be doing
more harm than good.
Sydney University's Jenny O'Dea is outraged at claims
this week by University of Queensland researcher Alan
Lopez that obesity is the new tobacco.
And she has a message for those self-satisfied stick
insects out there.
Fat, fit men have a much lower risk of heart attack
than slim, couch potato men.
Yes, wait for it, fat is not the root of all evil.
You can also be thin and unhealthy.
O'Dea, who has written a book, Positive Food for Kids,
says the approach of blaming the victims for the nation's
weight gain is backfiring badly.
Her research has found overweight patients are deterred
from going to the doctor because they don't want to
be lectured by a profession they believe is prejudiced
against them.
The media hype over obesity has spawned an explosion
of fad dieting, which research shows will only add to
long-term weight gain.
And by focusing on weight loss as the goal, the obesity-is-bad
juggernaut has diverted attention from what should be
the real message – the promotion of a healthy,
active lifestyle as the means to preventing medical
problems.
By demonising fat we may be adding to the pressure
on children prone to eating disorders.
Instead of making fat people feel bad, Jenny O'Dea
says we should be building their self image, because
if they feel bad about themselves they're never going
to take part in the sport and physical activity that
will help them remain healthy.
Instead of insisting on reducing waistlines, we should
be promoting "health at any size", O'Dea says.
"People need to get the message that not all fat
people are unhealthy," she says.
And there is growing scientific research to back her
up.
Researchers at the Cooper Institute in Texas have found
that fitness, not fatness, is more important as a predictor
of whether you are likely to die of a heart attack.
O'Dea is careful to stress that, of course, overweight
and obese people can have health risks.
"The key message is that healthy eating, physical
activity and not smoking is for all Australians, not
just the fat ones," she says.
A cursory examination of obesity research and reports
in this country shows that the public hype may be unnecessarily
alarmist.
It starts at the most basic level with the very figures
used in discussions about the nation's weight problem.
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in Australia,
with 67.5 per cent of men and 52 per cent of women and
19-23 per cent of children and adolescents being overweight
or obese, an article in the nation's leading medical
journal, The Medical Journal of Australia, screamed
last year.
Sure it's a headline grabber, but it makes the problem
seem much worse than it really is.
Closer analysis shows that the figures used by the
journal came from a 2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity
and Lifestyle study, which found that while 48.2 per
cent of men were overweight, only 19.2 per cent were
rated in the more dangerous obese category.
Only 22.2 per cent of women are obese, while 29.9 per
cent are merely overweight.
And for all the headlines devoted to childhood obesity,
the facts show the problem is really quite tiny. Just
4.5 per cent of boys and 5.3 per cent of girls are obese.
The same article used the examples of an obese 13-year-old
girl to demonstrate how doctors should deal with the
problem.
The girl was put on a diet and exercise program. She
lost weight and was no longer bullied at school.
However, there was no medical evidence that her weight
problem was a health problem.
In fact, the article reported that a blood test done
on the girl showed normal cholesterol, liver function,
glucose and insulin levels. Analysis of her urine also
returned normal results.
This case proves the very point Jenny O'Dea is trying
to make.
"I'm not saying, 'Condone obesity', but I'm saying,
'Not every fat child is a sick child, their life is
not over and getting them to lose
weight might not improve their health – and
might make things worse'."
Michael Booth, the director of the University of Sydney's
Centre for Overweight and Obesity, which this week claims
to have found cholesterol, insulin and liver problems
developing in 15-year-olds, agrees researchers need
to question whether they are demonising fatness.
It is possible to be a little overweight and still
be healthy, but the fatter you become the harder it
is to do the exercise that will keep you fit, he says.
Before you reach for another Tim Tam and use the remote
to switch channels, the message of this new research
is that it's OK to be overweight if you're also fit
and eat healthy food.
You can throw away the diet books – but you'd
better get yourself a treadmill, a gym membership, or
go walk the dog and quit smoking.
Source:http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au
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