Posted on 08/02/2007 3:06:40 PM PDT by neverdem
Obese people are often simply greedy and should not always be treated with pills, the head of the British Medical Association has said.
Dr Hamish Meldrum believes an obsession with medical labels may be stopping overweight people addressing their own problems.
He said the obesity epidemic is being mistakenly targeted with medical treatments and doctors' appointments.
Dr Meldrum told our sister paper, the Evening Standard: "We are saying, 'This patient has a hyper-appetite problem' rather than, 'They are just greedy.'
"People like to put fancy labels that suggest things are a medical problem. But [obesity] is not just a problem for GPs, it is societal.
"We are in danger of over-medicalising. The evidence of anti-obesity drugs is not good. The evidence for effective intervention in primary care for obesity is very weak."
Almost one in four adults and a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds in Britain are obese, according to the World Health Organisation.
The Government wants to halt the rise in childhood obesity within three years but is likely to miss the target. Primary care trusts, which "buy" care for their communities, are under pressure to get the numbers down and GPs were issued with guidance last year. But Dr Meldrum fears this may be the wrong approach.
More than a million anti-obesity prescriptions were issued in England in the last financial year at a cost of £47million. It means about 88,000 people could be on a course of treatment.
The drug Xenical, which inhibits fat absorption, and Reductil, an appetite suppressant, were recommended for use on the NHS by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) in 2001.
There was a dramatic uptake and prescriptions rose by more than 16 per cent in the 12 months to March.
Dr Meldrum said the pills only worked if people permanently altered their lifestyle but "their effectiveness is under dispute". Guidelines say children as young as 12 can get drugs and stomach surgery to combat their problem.
Dr Meldrum said: "I am not saying we should not look at how we can medically treat people who are very obese. But to me it is obviously an issue where prevention is better than cure."
He said the problem of "over medicalising" also affected other conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD)and dyslexia.
He said he did not dispute that ADHD or dyslexia existed and were debilitating. But they are being diagnosed inappropriately.
Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said: "How can obesity not be medicalised if there are 45 core morbidities associated with obesity and overwhelming evidence of a causal link?"
Bacon Man used to be a huge Classic Cokehead. (Not sure if he still is.) But I remember a time when he could drop five pounds in about a week by just not drinking Coke.
Yeah, it sounds simple . . . but just try to come between me and my Diet Coke. I dare y’all. ;)
There’s a fine dining establishment here called Cici’s Pizza. It is a buffet where all the pizza you can eat, washed down by all the corn syrup flavored water you can drink is about 5 bucks.
The customers I see are only about the size of a little league team - that is to say that each hippo waddling out to the parking lot is about the size of an entire team, possibly including the adult coach.
I’m sure they’d all tell you they wish they could climb a flight of stairs without turning red, or walk through a 24” door without turning sideways, but their fat genes are holding them back. No, fat jeans are the 56x30s that you’re crammed into.
"There is not this much food in the whole world."
Kids used to be able to eat like horses and be thin as rails--that's what seems to have changed. And that would have to do with physiology. I guess there are a lot of theories, but hormones would be a good place to start. Something is very different in our diets that was not there 20,30 years ago.
May I ask if you have taken this drug yourself? If you have, were there any adverse side affects? Looking forward to your reply. :)
I like the flavored fizzy water, when I can get the orange or lime flavor. Sugar free!
It does work, because if you follow the plan, you’ve got to eat substantial amounts of healthy food. Yes, people could eat nothing but a donut and coke for three meals, and be in the Points range, but that wouldn’t be following the plan that includes fruits and vegetables, milk products, water, and exercise.
And equally important, if you go to meetings and read the materials, you learn to meet your emotional needs with something other than food.
You may be right.
I can tell you this, I have one close to overweight daughter who is in constant motion and one skinny bookworm.
The only difference is the one in constant motion eats beef.
I think that may end.
My sister has struggled with weight for years. Her anti-convulsants have put her on a life-long roller coaster of trying to manage her weight.
The doctor put her on topomax, and she lost about thirty pounds. It worked, but only once. It has never been able to control her weight since then, unfortunately.
I wish that worked for me; the library is full of fascinating cookbooks!
Friend of mine reads cookbooks like we read fiction. She can imagine the ingredients combining and what the finished product tastes like.
If I could do that, I would never stop reading cookbooks.
Wow, someone as nutty as Pat!
This doctor is a perfect example of why Americans should shun socialized medicine. He obviously has no idea of the battle that someone who is obese must go through to be able to return to a life of moderation in their eating habits. Imagine this man having the power of life and death over his patients.
Just jumping into the conversation....
Our 10 year old son has started getting pimples on his nose. He’s a well-proportioned child, right down the middle as far as height and weight. So are his dad and I.
He doesn’t eat a lot of junk because as his mom, I don’t let him do that and he makes fairly wise food decisions on his own.
I’m really starting to question if it’s all the growth hormones that come from drinking milk. He’s a big milk drinker and from what I’ve read it’s concerning me.
10 seems very early to be getting acne. (Yes, he washes his face every night :)
Study: Laser Printers Could be Health Hazards
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Try looking up Cushing's Syndrome/Disease. No one wants to be fat.
we treat smokers, and drinkers, and druggies as if they have NO control over themselves.....all kinds of programs and pills and clinics and in the case of drinkers and druggies, they even get disability payments ......
why is society's outlook at obesity so hateful?.....why is it the average drunk will get more sympathy?
key to obesity IMO in our society....too large of portions ( remember when going to Mc's was to get a small hamburger, a coke, and a small fry, all for under $1?), too much tv and the internet, too little walking, too little drinking of good old plain water, eating out too much, etc etc.....you get the point...
My mother did Weight Watchers and was supposed to eat more, day to day, than she had ever eaten in her life! It did work for her. There is something more going on than calories in and calories burned.
It is difficult to know, since I think being obese can cause great emotional anguish, but I see emotional issues all over the people I know who are very large.
Processed food containing corn syrup. Fewer people know how to cook fresh food and have the time and energy to do it.
I try, but I'm not very good at it!
You might recall that obesity, like smoking, shortens one's life span by a considerable amount. I really doubt the obese are causing your medical costs to be high simply due the fact they tend to die. Believe me, a fat person with heart disease will cost a lot less money to care for in the long run than a skinny person with Alzheimer's. I hazard to guess that if all the obese were "cured" your medical insurance cost would not change at all. There are many other factors that cause medical costs to continually out pace inflation.
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