How should the NHS deal with the obesity epidemic? Lost battle?

mranderson · 25 Jul 2012 at 02:54

It clearly is a problem, but is throwing more money to the NHS (mainly primary care) a solution? How is this helping? What else can be done which is more sustainable and won't cost tax payers a fortune?
Are the food manufacturers to blame (low fat but high sugar)? Why isn't this a problem in other European countries (Scandinavian for example)?

Jimz · 25 Jul 2012 at 03:14

I see this getting worse and worse, in 5-10 years more people will be fatter.

Have you seen Wall-E? well it will be like that

OhEsEcks · 25 Jul 2012 at 03:15

Obesity is self inflicted. As such you should be made to pay for your own health care. Same with smoking, drug and drink related hospital treatments.

edscdk · 25 Jul 2012 at 06:32

Better for everyone easy surely? It's too expensive if people make it to old age

craptakular · 25 Jul 2012 at 06:42

Its an eating disorder like bulimia and anorexia and should be treated correctly by the nhS.

There Should be better education in schools that deal with food.

Richie · 25 Jul 2012 at 06:44

OhEsEcks said:
Obesity is self inflicted. As such you should be made to pay for your own health care. Same with smoking, drug and drink related hospital treatments.

Not all obesity sufferers are self inflicted. I agree that the vast majority are but not all

I do agree with the smoking/drug and drink point though....

asim18 · 25 Jul 2012 at 06:47

How should the NHS deal with the obesity epidemic?

Maybe provide them with a helpful reminder, in the form of a leaflet, that eating more than you burn makes you fat.

What more can you do in reality? Ban them from McDonalds? Good luck with that.

Hamish · 25 Jul 2012 at 06:53

OhEsEcks said:
Obesity is self inflicted. As such you should be made to pay for your own health care. Same with smoking, drug and drink related hospital treatments.

What a load of rubbish. How do you propose to implement this denial of care that these people have paid for? if you weigh more than x then you can't visit a hospital? if you smoked a cigarette within the last month and you get cancer then you can **** off?
rode a bike and fell off? shouldn't have been so careless - self inflicted

Utterly idiotic proposal.

dalin80 · 25 Jul 2012 at 06:53

Make the passage from door to counter a treadmill moving backwards.

LOAM · 25 Jul 2012 at 07:35

OhEsEcks said:
Obesity is self inflicted. As such you should be made to pay for your own health care. Same with smoking, drug and drink related hospital treatments.

Don't forget DIY, sport related injury, driving and any other self inflicted injuries. Have some rolling eyes :rolleyes:

Overslop · 25 Jul 2012 at 07:38

OhEsEcks said:
Obesity is self inflicted. As such you should be made to pay for your own health care. Same with smoking, drug and drink related hospital treatments.

Richie said:
Not all obesity sufferers are self inflicted. I agree that the vast majority are but not all

I do agree with the smoking/drug and drink point though....

Smokers and drinkers already pay for their health care + a big profit for the government. That's what the massive tax on cigarettes and alcohol is for.

If people stopped buying booze and cigarettes the NHS would be in a much worse state than it already is.

Overslop · 25 Jul 2012 at 07:38

EDIT: Double post

Danthus · 25 Jul 2012 at 07:41

We need a revolution in this country when it comes to food. Sadly cheap processed food is stacked almost floor to ceiling in the supermarkets.

It isn't an excuse but sadly it is the reality.

asim18 · 25 Jul 2012 at 07:44

OldCoals said:
We need a revolution in this country when it comes to food. Sadly cheap processed food is stacked almost floor to ceiling in the supermarkets.

It isn't an excuse but sadly it is the reality.

But then what about the people who genuinely purchase cheap processed food, and are aware that eating too much equals fat?

Should they have their cheap food source revolted just because some fatties cant stop overeating?

LOAM · 25 Jul 2012 at 07:45

That's the problem right there, its far cheaper to eat rubbish that eat well.

Aedus · 25 Jul 2012 at 07:51

It's not all about cost, it's about convenience too and a lack of education.

No-one wants to work 8 hours a day and then come home having to cook more food themselves when they can just go to a fast food place or buy a microwave dinner. Also they don't realise half the time what they are eating, the education towards a decent diet isn't taught to people, while it may be obvious to some, others don't understand why they can't lose weight when it's glaringly obvious.

It would need to be taught in schools from a young age, what is good, what is bad, how to make good food and avoid bad food. Though how much difference it'd make? Who knows, but the way to start getting the obesity epidemic sorted out is by educating everyone.

Overslop · 25 Jul 2012 at 07:58

Aedus said:
It's not all about cost, it's about convenience too and a lack of education.

No-one wants to work 8 hours a day and then come home having to cook more food themselves when they can just go to a fast food place or buy a microwave dinner. Also they don't realise half the time what they are eating, the education towards a decent diet isn't taught to people, while it may be obvious to some, others don't understand why they can't lose weight when it's glaringly obvious.

It would need to be taught in schools from a young age, what is good, what is bad, how to make good food and avoid bad food. Though how much difference it'd make? Who knows, but the way to start getting the obesity epidemic sorted out is by educating everyone.

This is a good assessment.

mranderson · 25 Jul 2012 at 08:02

LOAM said:
That's the problem right there, its far cheaper to eat rubbish that eat well.

This has been quoted as part of the problem but even TV shows (Jamie Oliver) have shown that it isn't necessary more expensive to eat healthier. It involves however more effort and time.
How about adding a tax to all "junk" food to make them less tempting. Say you had to pay £2 for a pack of crisps would you still buy it?

elmarko · 25 Jul 2012 at 08:03

OhEsEcks said:
Obesity is self inflicted. As such you should be made to pay for your own health care. Same with smoking, drug and drink related hospital treatments.

What about sporting injuries?, pregnant women?.

It's much cheaper to eat junk (I mean cheap oven-food, not fast food or ready meals) than it is to eat a well balanced diet of meat & vegetables.

The term "Fat-free" should be banned if the item contains above a certain percent of sugar (as it's implying the item is healthier than it really is).

To give an example, go down the yoghurt section in any big supermarket - the most healthy one I could find was a "natural creamy" one without any indication it was actually healthy.

It had almost no sugar in it & small (but not stupidly small) amount of fat in it & a reasonable amount of protein to boot.

The food industry has been skill-fully using certain terms (natural/organic/low fat) in an attempt to lure people into thinking that certain foods are healthy.

Some of these "healthy" foods have more sugar in them than the normal ones - it's incredibly dishonest & really isn't helping people make good food choice.

asim18 · 25 Jul 2012 at 08:06

elmarko1234 said:
What about sporting injuries?, pregnant women?.

Those are accidental.