Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Obesity: stopping the ticking timebomb

Professor Stephen Atkin, Hull-York Medical School

The British Science Association Lecture

Report
by Stephen Lusty
In a lecture full of exploding statistics on the state of our nation’s waistline, Professor Atkin charted us through graphs of ever-increasing obesity cases in the UK – showing that 30% of us are reaching dangerous levels of overweightness – leading to more and more cases of diabetes, cardovascular disease as well as immense financial burdens on taxpayers, on the NHS and on employers((18 million lost work days p.a.)
He examined the causes – western fast-food style diet (far too much fat), under-regulation of supermarket food ingredients, disappearance of school playing fields and school sports, uninformed parental influence, and the side-effects of psychiatric drugs. An informed and concerned government could do much to limit obesity by addressing these underlying causes.
Professor Atkin stressed that medical treatment of existing cases had to be highly individual, and that, although pill and surgical cures could show a limited benefit, a self-imposed commitment to a 10% weight reduction target – to ‘lose a lb a month’ – over a longer period was the most effective treatment.

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