Eating Habits, Not Obesity Should Be Blamed for Global Health Risk

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Last week, Dame Sally Davies released the "Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer," with this year's focus on women's health. In it, Davies said that addressing the obesity problem should be a national priority because it is a "growing health catastrophe," BBC reports.

University College London's Institute of Cardiovascular Science professor Nick Finer agreed, commenting that obesity was "the most pressing health issue for the nation".

"Estimates of the economic costs of obesity suggest they will bankrupt the NHS," Finer explained. "Elevating the problem of obesity to a national risk could help to address the current 'laissez-faire' attitude to this huge, angry, growing health catastrophe."

Davies' report focused on other issues in women's health, including the effects of violence and female genital mutilation (FGM), eating disorders, cancer survival, and menopause. She also zeroed in on how obesity affects a woman's life span and childbearing abilities.

"In women obesity can affect the outcomes of any pregnancies they have and the health of any future children they may have," Davies argued. "This is a difficult message to convey, as it risks burdening women with guilt and responsibility, but I believe that it can also empower women to take positive steps like eating more healthily and taking more exercise. It is never too late to take action for a healthier lifestyle – for you and your family."

The Guardian reports that in the U.K., 50 percent of women aged 25 to 34 are overweight or obese, and 36 percent of females aged 16 to 24 are, as well.

"Action is required across all of society to prevent obesity and its associated problems from shortening women’s lives and affecting their quality of life," Davies stated. "We need to address the educational and environmental factors that cause obesity and empower women and their families to live healthier lives."

Meanwhile, opinion columnist Susie Orbach for The Guardian challenges Davies' statements, writing that there are a lot of factors that contribute to obesity on a societal level. From genetics to history, to market offerings and overeating, psychology to consumerism, Orbach states factors that affect a person's food choices. She argues that "We demonise fat while extolling thin as new kind of morality."

Orbach claims that "troubled eating is ubiquitous and grows with each generation" and this is what needs to be addressed by the health authorities. She wrote, "We have disordered eating across the board. That is the true public health emergency. This requires thoughtful, skilled help for mothers, yes, but not through concepts like 'empowerment' used in the report."

But whether or not Orbach is right, the facts and figures remain that half of U.K. women are obese, and obesity is a global problem that must be addressed in more ways than one.