TVScope: Dispatches: The Truth About Your Food - It's Not My Fault I'm FatChannel 4, 9pm Thursday, Jan 17th
In the second of two Dispatchesprogrammes in the Big Food Fight series, journalist Jane Moore explored the growing obesity problem in Britain and examined the excuses used by many to explain their ever increasing waist lines.
The latest figures from the National Health Service (NHS) show that 4,082 people were treated for obesity in 2006-2007. During the same period, a further 85,302 required treatment for the consequences of clinical obesity, such as heart, respiratory and joint problems. Should the current trends continue, it is estimated that only 10 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women will be the correct weight for their height by 2050.
Moore took an interesting angle when she compared what people actually ate with what they thought they ate. One family, mystified by their weight problems, believed they ate only one meal a day.
With surveillance cameras in the kitchen and a private detective monitoring their eating habits, it transpired that their one daily meal consisted of steak, sausages and a mountain of carbohydrates, washed down with 30 units of alcohol a week. Topped up with a handful of sausage rolls during the day, it did not take a genius to work out why they were struggling with obesity.
Many people believe that they are not responsible for their weight problem. Carol, for example, who was more than well-endowed for her job as a belly dancing teacher, had been struggling with her weight for years. Blaming her slow metabolism, Dispatchesarranged for her theory to be tested.
On being told she had a normal metabolism, she was clearly incensed and vehemently argued that the doctors were wrong despite the scientific evidence to the contrary.
Other contributors, who had for years blamed defective glands or "fat" genes for their weight problems, were also given a proverbial kick in the pants by
experts when told there was no evidence to substantiate their excuses.
The reason why many people have weight problems is because they are unaware of the calorie content of what they eat. And while the Food Safety Authority ensured that shops label their products with calorie and nutritional information, the restaurant industry is not obliged to provide the same.
Shockingly, the calorie content of meals from a variety of high-street restaurants were shown to be in excess of the recommended daily calorie allowance. More worrying, given the rise in childhood obesity levels, the calorie count of a typical "kid's meal" was found to be two to three times more than the recommended calorie intake for children.
The programme succinctly concluded that, with the increasing trend to eat out, the consumption of more calories than our bodies need and the dearth of nutritional and calorific information available to consumers, it is no wonder the obesity problem continues to grow.
Marion Kerr is an occupational therapist