Members of the “Size Acceptance Movement” reportedly protested outside the mayor of London’s office recently, urging him to ensure that employers are not prejudiced against overweight people. The group claims that surveys show 93 percent of employers would rather employ a thin person rather than an overweight one even if such individuals are equally qualified. The group evidently wants to ban “fat-ism” in the UK by emulating a San Francisco ordinance that prohibits height and weight discrimination in housing and employment. Demonstrators said the overweight should be protected on the same grounds as race, age and religious discrimination, and that attacking someone for being fat should be a hate crime. “I have been punched, I have had beer thrown in my face, I have had people attack me on the train,” one protestor said. See BBC News, October 19, 2009.
Tag Archives obesity
The North Carolina State Health Plan (SHPNC) has reportedly approved fee increases for state employees who use tobacco or whose body mass index (BMI) qualifies them as obese. Under the new arrangement, private contractors hired by SHPNC will monitor workers’ weight and take saliva samples to test for cotinine, a nicotine derivative. The plan requires tobacco users to enroll in a more expensive insurance plan by July 2010, while members with a BMI exceeding 40 have until July 2011 to improve their overall health before seeing a cost increase. According to SHPNC, these fees will help alleviate budget shortfalls that last year necessitated an emergency infusion of $250 million to cover claims. “Tobacco use and poor nutrition and inactivity are the leading causes of preventable deaths in our state,” an SHPNC spokesperson told reporters. “We need a healthy workforce in this state. We’re trying to encourage individuals to adopt healthy…
A new Rand Corporation study claims that South Los Angeles’ 2008 ban on new or expanded fast-food restaurants is unlikely to improve residents’ diets or reduce obesity because the area actually has a lower concentration of these establishments per capita than other areas of the city. Researchers apparently discovered that South Los Angeles has an abundance of small food stores and other food outlets where residents consumed significantly more “discretionary” calories from sugary or salty snacks and soft drinks compared to residents of wealthier neighborhoods. The ban, approved by the Los Angeles City Council in August 2008, “may have been an important first by being concerned with health outcomes, but it is not the most promising approach to lowering the high rate of obesity in South Los Angeles,” the study’s lead author was quoted as saying. “It does not address the main differences we see in the food environment between Los…
More than 40 retailers, non-governmental organizations, and food and beverage manufacturers have launched a national initiative to reduce obesity in the United States by 2015, especially among children. The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation aims to provide tools to help people achieve healthy weights through “energy balance—calories in balance with calories out” in three areas where they spend the most time: the marketplace, workplace and schools. Founding members have committed $20 million to the endeavor, which will be independently monitored by organizations that will produce public reports about their findings. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) will monitor the marketplace component; the National Business Group on Health will assess workplace efforts; and the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California, Berkeley will audit schools. “If current trends continue, today’s young people may be the first generation in American history to live sicker and die younger than their parents’…
A new anti-obesity ad unveiled by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene depicts globs of human fat gushing from a soda bottle and asks the question: “Are you pouring on the pounds? Don’t drink yourself fat.” The ad urges viewers to choose water, seltzer or low-fat milk instead of high-calorie sodas and juice drinks. The $277,000 ad, which will run in 1,500 subways subway cars for three months, was apparently denounced by the American Beverage Association as “counterproductive to serious efforts to address a complex issues such as obesity.” ABA spokesperson Kevin Keane said the ad campaign is “over the top and unfortunately is going to undermine meaningful efforts to educate people about how to maintain a healthy weight by balancing calories consumed from all foods and beverages with calories burned through exercise.” But Cathy Nonas, a dietitian for the city’s health and mental hygiene department,…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has published a report titled Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity, which advises cities, counties and townships to adopt a variety of health measures likely to directly affect children outside the regular school day. According to IOM, “16.3 percent of children and adolescents between the ages of two and 19 are obese” and “more likely than their lower-weight counterparts to develop hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes when they are young.” The report identifies nine healthy eating strategies focused on improving community and individual access to “healthy, safe and affordable foods”; reducing access to “calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods”; and raising awareness about childhood obesity prevention. In addition, IOM offers six strategies designed to encourage physical activity, reduce sedentary behavior and stress the importance of sustained exercise. To further these goals, the report urges local policymakers to consider a number of action steps, including: (i) menu labeling…
According to researchers with the University of Pittsburgh and UCLA Schools of Medicine, brain scans of 94 elderly individuals showed that “obese subjects with a high BMI (BMI>30) showed atrophy of the frontal lobes [planning and memory functions], anterior cingulate gyrus [attention and executive functions], hippocampus [long-term memory], and thalamus [sensory information processing and relay] compared with individuals with a normal BMI (18.5-25).” Cyrus Raji, et al., “Brain Structure and Obesity,” Human Brain Mapping, August 6, 2009. They also apparently found that higher BMI was associated with lower brain volumes in overweight and obese elderly subjects. The scientists conclude, “Obesity is therefore associated with detectable brain volume deficits in cognitively normal elderly subjects.” Senior author Paul Thompson, UCLA professor of neurology, was quoted as saying, “That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that the average American woman enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is 5.8 pounds heavier than someone of the same socioeconomic background who does not receive food stamps. Jay L. Zagorsky, et al., “Does the U.S. Food Stamp Program Contribute to Adult Weight Gain?”, Economics & Human Biology (July 2009). According to the researchers, “this association does not prove that the Food Stamp Program causes weight gain,” but may show that increased income, either from cash or food stamp coupons, increases food spending in general. “However, the estimates indicate that food demand is inelastic and increased food spending does not necessarily mean increased caloric intake. Even so, the program could still contribute to weight gain since people tend to overconsume products that are free,” stated the study authors. Noting that the average recipient receives approximately $80 per month in food stamp…
Trust for America’s Health, with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has released its annual obesity report. Titled F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing America, the sixth annual edition finds, among other matters, that adult obesity rates continued to rise in nearly half the states and that the states with the highest rates of adult, child and adolescent obesity are in the South. The report, which charts obesity-related diseases, physical activity and income level by state, also tracks trends in state legislation addressing nutritional standards for school meals and vending machines as well as laws requiring BMI screenings for school age children, health education, and farm-to-school programs. The report acknowledges “the current economic crisis,” suggesting that it will increase the cost of nutritious food; overextend safety-net programs and services and increase levels of depression, anxiety and stress, “which often can be linked to obesity.” To combat…
Cornell Law School Professor Sherry Colb discusses the recent incident involving the removal of a morbidly obese teen from the custody of his mother for child neglect. Colb questions the wisdom of South Carolina’s decision to place the child in the state’s protective custody, suggesting, “the government could spend considerably less money providing [the mother] with healthy food and information about nutrition.” Noting that the mother works long hours at more than one job and relies on fast food to feed her child, Colb points out that she only lacks resources, “not love or concern for her son.” She considers whether the government could take custody of a child with anorexia nervosa and thus, “needlessly add psychological trauma to an already fragile child’s life.” She also considers the typical diet offered in the nation’s school lunch programs, involving high-fat and processed carbohydrates. Colb concludes, “We should not be arresting people…
