The ‘Big’ Issue: Obesity. Obesity is the world’s third biggest cause of early death: physical exercise and a healthy diet are essential to keeping body weight at a manageable level; while endoscopic treatments are a far safer alternative to gastric surgery.
27 November 2012
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Middle aged obese woman.The Bridge MAG image
As the festive season approaches, with the spectre of dietary over-indulgence that is part and parcel of the Christmas period with and all its ‘trimmings’, there is greater likelihood that many more people will be tipping into obesity by the new year.
It is unhelpful that the mainstream media tends to depict the human tragedy of obesity in a broadly superficial, even judgemental, way.
We live in judgemental times: austerity tends to germinate stigmas against those perceived ‘groups’ in society deemed to “cost the state” and “taxpayer” extra expenditures at a time of fiscal restraint.
Whether deliberately or not, the roots of such ‘blame cultures’ stem from the rhetoric of government, and then trickle down into the media and through newspapers – most particularly the red-top tabloids, which historically muddy the notion of ‘topicality’ with hyperbole and sensationalism. So it is that a time of national financial strain, any health issues perceived as in some sense self-inflicted, especially if through perceived ‘over-indulgence’, tend to be treated in a more judgemental than empathetic light.
Smoking, alcohol consumption, drug taking and obesity through ‘over-eating’ are four of today’s ‘health taboos’…
Dr. Ties Boerma, Director of the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at WHO, considers obesity to be a major issue:
“Today, half a billion people (12% of the world’s population) are considered obese…
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Rachel Tcheungna, Author, Writer of
The Bridge Books and
The Bridge Magazine Editor.