The McCarrison Society - Chairman's Comment Aug 2006 Obesity Crises highlighted by the Independent Newspaper.

Chairman's Comment Aug 2006 Obesity Crises highlighted by the Independent Newspaper.

The Obesity Crises highlighted by the Independent Newspaper.The Independent on Sunday, 20th August headlined the catastrophe of increasing obesity.We have heard this before of course but the Independent is one of the first news media organs to recognise and highlight the importance of educating children. For decades, the McCarrison Society has pleaded for the restoration of nutrition, health and hygiene education at schools. Nutrition, health and hygiene should be taught up to A level. Without knowledge how can children take charge of their own lives, health, destiny and indeed the health of the children they will parent? We need to empower children with knowledge.The Colleges of Domestic Science were closed in the 1970s for what reason? Who benefited? The food industry had carte-blanche to do what they wished – good intention or otherwise. Now we see the result.

We now have a nation of political leaders, captains of industry and notably those in the food and agricultural industries who know nothing about the links between nutrition, hygiene and health. So what can one expect? It is the blind leading the blind and leading the children into obesity and ill health.

Education for school children must be restored

The second issue is that not is not just the food industry but the food production system. Take the subsidy system for livestock (which in some quarters is called “Fatstock”) which ticked in at 30% carcass fat. That is associated with 50% lean.

The lean is 4/5ths water and 1/5^th porotein so its protein value in calories is 10 times 4 which equals 40.

Now convert the 30 fat to calories (fat is virtually all fat!) and you multiply by 9 which equals 270.

So you have 270 divided by 40 which = 6.75 times the amount of fat calories being produced compared to protein.

Unless this gross abnormality is corrected people in ignorance cannot win.. One way or another the 6.75 times fat calories are getting into our food chain, our stomachs and waistlines. At the beginning of last century people did not have electricity so they lit their houses with tallow candles (beef fat). We now eat the candles and unfortunately the industry is producing a much higher ratio of fat to protein than it was then. Think about it. If we went back to using candles from the massive surplus of beef and other animal fats the Nation could throw away its electric light bulbs!

Added to this problem is the export of fatty foods sausages, pies and convenience foods to developing countries. To make mattes worse these are products subsidised by the EU so they undercut local traditional foods. Is it little wonder that no only we in the UK but people in the Indian and Chinese cities are now suffering fro the same problem of obesity which threatens heart disease and stroke and gangrene.

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