subject: Rise in Obesity Related Hospital Admission [print this page] Rise in Obesity Related Hospital Admission
There has been a huge rise in the number of obesity related hospital admissions, ten times the amount! The information comes from the NHS Information Centre and reports that 10,720 people were admitted to hospital for obesity related problems, 1,000 more cases than in 1999. The illnesses included breathing difficulties, gastric bands and heart failure. A spokesperson from the British Heart Foundation said that the figures increase concerns about the UK's ever progressing obesity epidemic. The government's new plan to tackle the biggest health problems of the nation will hopefully have the power to tackle' childhood obesity.
2.8 million people are treated for type-2 diabetes. This disease has close associations with an inactive lifestyle where bad eating habits are to blame and where there is little or no exercise.
The news comes after a doctor has been allowed to perform the first fat-reduction operation on children. He will now be able to perform keyhole procedures on those under the age of 16 who have type 2 diabetes. This will be part of an on-going study which will seek to evaluate the benefits of weight loss surgery. NHS IC figures were revealed in a report on hospital admissions. They convey that the amount of patients admitted who had obesity related problems, rose by one third last year.
A spokesperson from Weight Concern said that so often obesity is seen as an aesthetic rather than a health problem. Well, if vanity is the reason that people seek help for their condition, it is at least a motivation.
Obviously, weight loss surgery should not be considered the best form of treatment. The surgeries are prolonging and saving lives but there needs to be more focus on preventative measures. Attitudes towards obesity are mixed and so are the opinions on the best way to handle the issue. There has been much response to a blog written by a Marie Claire journalist who states that fat people grossed' her out and that it is disgusting that they be affectionate with one another in public along with a torrent of equally as poisonous comments all relating to the new TV show in the US, Mike and Molly. This sit com follows the story of an obese couple and is a hit in the US presently. The president of Action Against Obesity, explains that if the blogger had written about feeling disgusted by the appearance of two anorexics being affectionate with one another then everyone would be patting her on the back. I believe that she has a point. In some way we pity the obese and have no tolerance for those who suffer from anorex ia. However, anorexia is a disease and obesity is a choice.
The president of Action Against Obesity decides that the writer's comments were in bad taste but takes exception to the abuse the blogger has received for being open about how she feels about obesity. She agrees with what the blog says about Mike and Molly in that it simply comprised of fat jokes and a laughter track. She fears that this type of glamorization of obesity will only lead to a normalizing of the condition and make people feel that it is acceptable to be this weight or that it should be celebrated in some way. The feelings of repulsion admitted by the Marie Claire writer were explained by the AAO president as purely instinctual. A person responds that way due to their survival instincts - they know that being of such weight poses a great risk to one's health and reacting with disgust is therefore normal.
The plain fact of the matter is that people need to stop themselves getting fat in the first place as weight loss on a grand scale is very difficult to achieve without dramatic interventions like gastric band surgery, which is monstrously expensive.
