Head of BMA: Many obese people are 'greedy'
The UK's Evening Standard reports that Dr. Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association (that's him on the right), is taking issue with how doctors in his country have approached obesity. In the doctor's own words:
"We are saying, 'This patient has a hyper-appetite problem' rather than, 'They are just greedy.'
"People like to put fancy labels that suggest things are a medical problem. But [obesity] is not just a problem for GPs, it is societal.
"We are in danger of over-medicalising. The evidence of anti-obesity drugs is not good. The evidence for effective intervention in primary care for obesity is very weak."
As you might expect, Dr. Meldrum's thoughts have set off a bit of a row in the UK. His choice of words has been called "troublesome," though others have remarked that the doctor's comments are part of "an outbreak of candor."
-article pointer via Art Caplan
photo: BMA
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'Greedy' is a provocative choice of word but if the problem is excess intake then it is more or less apt. That isn't to say over-eaters are horrible people, but that behavioral treatments are the typically the best option when behavioral mechanisms are the cause of the problem.
- by emily on Sep 5, 2007 at 9:06 AM | link
The problem with it, Emily, is that it continues trying to reduce obesity to a single cause, so there can be a single cure. And as science and news, reported both here and on the Women's Bioethics Blog have noted, and recently, there are multiple causes for obesity.
Singling out "greediness" as the reason for obesity reinforces an often inaccurate stereotype and negatively affects those who have other reasons for being overweight. And when you've got those reasons to be overweight, the last thing you need is someone telling you that your problem is really just one of being greedy.
- by Kelly on Sep 6, 2007 at 11:15 PM | link
I think there is ample evidence that excessive or unbalanced intake is the predominant cause of obesity in countries such as the United States. I think this statement is trying to balance a perception coming from some lines of research that genetics is the primary or only cause. Genetics in the US are not substantially different from countries where obesity is not a substantial problem and those cases that exist do probably have an organic cause of some sort (genetical, disease, toxins etc).
What is missing is substantive research into how to change the malfunction in our behaviour or culture because 'greed' is immediately read as a personal sin not a sociological aberation in need of correction.
- by emily on Sep 7, 2007 at 2:31 PM | link
Emily - greed seems to easy a shorthand for the problem. It shrugs off any number of other, viable causes for an obesity epidemic - including one of the growing and popular theories, the inexpensiveness of empty calories, leading to overweight but malnourished people.
However, my inclination is not always that "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem" - sometimes, Occam got it wrong, and to look for the simplest is to overlook the obvious.
- by Kelly on Sep 8, 2007 at 12:11 AM | link