Running head: CONSEQUENCES OF OBESITY IN GREAT BRITAIN (Lutfiyya et al., 2012, p.

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Consequences of obesity in Great Britain Babydollrn East Tennessee State University Health Policy NURS 5000 July 27, 2013

CONSEQUENCES OF OBESITY IN GREAT BRITAIN Consequences of obesity in Great Britain

Obesity is one of the most prevalent forms of malady in the European and American continents. The ranks of obese individuals are augmented each year to the extent that obesity is now very often referred to as pandemic in either first world or undeveloped countries from across the world. The purpose of this paper is to observe, compare and contrast the health policies of the United Kingdom and the United States of America, with special focus on the measures allocated to preventing and decreasing the obesity rate among the countries inhabitants. Trends from the past 18 years in the United Kingdom seem to indicate a tremendous increase in the percentage of obese persons. In fact, reports show that 21% of adult women and 17% of adult men are obese, while 56% of the entire adult male population and 46% of the female sector are overweight (Banning, 2005, p. 163). Moreover, weight issues expand to the younger population as well, since there is an accelerating tendency in childhood obesity, which affects 9.6% of girls and 6.5% of boys, with a narrowed scope of 70% occurrence limited to 3-4 year old children, as was registered between years1989 and 1998 (Banning, 2005, p. 163). In addition, the financial consequences of obesity in Great Britain are significant. It has been estimated that 9.7 billion will be spent on obesity-related diseases by 2050 if the aforementioned trends do not change (Timmins, 2011, p. 157) . The healthcare costs of dealing with the repercussions associated with an overweight and obese population in the U.K. are monstrous, seeing as each year 9.5 million is spent on treating obesity and 12.5 million on treating its direct consequences, such as type 2 diabetes and various effects on the cardiovascular system, due to hypertension, high triglycerides and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Banning, 2005, p. 163). All in all, the combined expenses demand a portion of up to 1.5% out of the

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National Health Service available budget, and indirect costs represented by sickness absence from work, or premature death, result in approximately 2.1 million annual cost (Banning, 2005, p. 163). Compared to Great Britain, the United States health policy is focused on minimizing the medical and social costs inflicted by the presence of a high obesity rate across the country. In this sense, federal and state governments have applied certain tax policies, essentially meant to induce individuals into becoming more physically active and also adopt better eating behavior. This is done by favoring the purchase of healthy products through granting a tax subvention, taxing unhealthy products, and creating tax incentives for individuals to become more physically active (Efrat & Efrat, 2012). Admittedly, studies suggest that adopting taxing measures on unhealthy foods and beverages is not necessarily synonymous with certain alteration of consumption patterns. Nonetheless, following the example of the significant decline in tobacco use, which is associated with an increase in taxes (Efrat & Efrat, 2012), the majority of policy supporters remain confident that appointing a large excise tax on unhealthy products would effect a significant modification of consumption patterns and so influence the nationwide overweight prospects. Additionally, such funds as have been obtained from these taxes could be directed towards supporting a set of effective obesity prevention programs and campaigns, conducive to further reduction in obesity levels in children and adults alike. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Britain acknowledges the value of fiscal policy actions as potentially capable of confronting diet-related disease in a successful manner, just as the British educational and informational approach is believed to have failed to address obesity effectively (Nicholls et al., 2011, p. 157). Even though fiscal measures are being considered as

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part of a multi-factorial intervention, the general consensus is that it is too early to realize whether the fiscal policies already adopted by other nations such as Denmark, Romania, or the United States, are viable solutions (Timmins, 2011, p. 157). Therefore, England appears to take the cautious route of employing alternative measures until such time as specific long-term results become evident in the other countries projects. The U.K. governments public health policy has been trying to counteract obesity by means of implementing a set of initiatives designed to inform people about the downside of what being overweight and obese involves, and also monitor the average weight of different populations over time. Apart from that, in order to contend with obesogenic environments (Colls & Evans, 2010, para. 4), a series of measures has also been enacted in relation to improving eating habits and enhancing physical activity in targeted communities. For instance, there is the attempt to improve the quality and content of school dinners portrayed in the Channel 4 program series named Jamies School Dinners, and other national awareness campaigns, such as NHS Change4Life, which avidly encourages families to eat adequately and take part in various physical activities, while also gathering funds for areas that have been targeted to convert into Healthy Towns (Colls & Evans, 2010, para. 5). Nevertheless, these measures are exclusively derived from the relationship between weight and health, namely relying solely on the certainty that a balanced Body Mass Index is healthy, whereas an above-limit value is unhealthy. Yet, there is a vast array of research that preoccupies itself with the manner in which obesity is perceived as a social issue, concentrated in a body of work generically known as Fat Studies (Colls & Evans, 2010), which criticizes and draws attention to the fact that, in identifying obesity as a problem, thus categorized persons

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bodies come to be socially judged as deviant and in need of alteration. This practice can easily result in some form of discrimination, social stigma, and even cause personal harm. As a matter of fact, the owners of overweight or obese bodies are frequently referred to in settings that paint them as stupid, ugly and unwilling to change their self-inflicted unhealthiness. Upon reflection, one might reach the conclusion that the Western civilizations established ideal of a thin body automatically implies that people with balanced weights are epitomes of self-care and control, whereas those who stray from this model have a problem that requires to be fixed. Therefore, it can be stated that any effective measure intended to combat obesity ought to take into account these social aspects. Interestingly, healthy food may be less available in low-income neighborhoods, and modern families limited time availability due to working-schedule commitments may also act as an impediment of buying and preparing healthy food. Thus, only the measures that consider these fluctuations of availability across policy domains can be expected to address individual behaviors, and finally affect a nations health on a long-term basis. (Nicholls et al., 2011, p. 157). Overall, it is safe to assert that, in the instance where differences in food price are to some extent responsible for unfavorable weight trends, U.S.A.s example of setting a tax on unhealthy products could provide a viable means for the prevention of obesity. However, U.K. is equally right in contending that fiscal policys utility is yet to be validated. Behavioral and cultural change, on the other hand, remains the most widely implemented long-term goal, requiring the converged coherent efforts from the part of governments, individuals, and food industry altogether.

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(2012). Rurality as a root of fundamental social determinant of health. Des Mon, 58, 620628. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.disamonth.2012.08.005 Nicholls, S. G., Gwozdz, W., Reisch, L. A., & Voigt, K. (2011). Fiscal food policy and equity and practice. Perspectives in Public Health, 131(4), 157-158. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1757913911412479 Probst, J. C., Bellinger, J. D., Walsemann, K. M., Hardin, J., & Glover, S. H. (2011). Higher risk of death in rural blacks and whites than urbanites is related to lower incomes, education, and health coverage. Health Affairs, 30(10), 1872-1879. http://dx.doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0668 Timmins, K. (2011). On with pennies, off with the pounds? The use of taxation policies in obesity prevention. Perspectives in Public Health, 131(4), 155-157. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1757913911412476