Reacting to a TV Interview About Obesity
- Matt Gable
- Jun 17, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 16
A client of mine sent me a video of an interview about obesity from the show "This Morning" [1 - Full interview]. The guests on the show were obesity campaigner, Sarah Le Brocq, and physician, Dr Zoe Williams. After dissecting this interview, I agree with some of what they say, but I disagree with other points. Either way, I'm glad that we have people like Sarah and Zoe to get the word out that those who suffer from obesity might need more help than just being told to eat less and move more.
First up...
Obesity and BMI (Body Mass Index)
Why Obesity Should Be Considered a Chronic Disease | This Morning
In my previous blog, Taking Responsibility of Obesity, I mentioned how the US declared obesity a disease in 2013. Still, to this day, obesity isn't considered a disease here in the UK.
The reason I don't think obesity is considered a disease here in the UK is that at what point do we actually say someone has a disease? When someone has cancer, they have a disease. We don't all nearly have cancer; you either have it or you don't. With obesity, if your BMI goes from 29.9 (overweight) to 30 (obese), then you would have a disease, and if it goes back down to 29.9, then all of a sudden you wouldn't have a disease. I believe that we'll need to calculate it in a better way before using the word 'disease'. Perhaps we should go the same route that Zoe mentioned about Canada.
Choice
Why Obesity Should Be Considered a Chronic Disease | This Morning
I think the way that obesity is being explained in this interview is misleading as though it's something that you can catch, rather than something that is self inflicted and avoidable. It also makes it sound as though someone who is obese can't do anything about it.
When I hear Sarah say about how she's tried multiple diets, lost the weight and then put it back on again, that to me sounds like the average yo-yo dieter. Someone who starts a temporary diet plan, sees some results, gets comfortable, starts to slack, and then ends up back at square one. Sure, the diet was probably restrictive, unenjoyable and overall unsustainable, but that doesn't mean it's anyone else's fault. I understand that it's more difficult for some than others, but it was Sarah's choice to give up on every diet that she's ever tried. This is where I bring in the cheesy quote - Living a healthy lifestyle is a journey, not a destination.
"Look at the numbers"
Why Obesity Should Be Considered a Chronic Disease | This Morning
Here is the most recent information on Zoe's statements [2]. Between 2022 and 2023, the percentage of overweight adults (including those with obesity) in the UK was 64%. Specifically, 26.2% of adults were found to be living with obesity.
Zoe mentions that up to 70% of the causes of obesity are linked to genetics. We need to be careful when using the word genetics. People use that word as an easy way out, ignoring the fact that, one way or another, they have contributed to getting themselves to where they are.
I look at it this way: when you point your finger at genetics, there are three fingers pointing back at you. Those three fingers represent food, exercise, and sleep. Before blaming something, ask yourself the following questions:
Food Am I eating less? Am I eating healthier?
Exercise Do I move more? Am I moving enough?
Sleep Do I get enough sleep? Do I get good quality sleep?
When Zoe talked about looking at the numbers, I think we missed the basics. Here are some UK statistics:
94% of the UK are unaware of how many calories they consume [3].
The average adult consumes 3,400 calories a day, although the recommended daily calorie consumption is 2,500 for men and 2,000 for women [4].
69% of adults do not hit the recommended 5 a day of fruits and veg [5].
It's estimated that 370 calories are consumed per day just by snacking at home [6].
26.6% of adults are inactive [7].
31% of adults struggle to fit in exercise due to "not having enough time" [8].
27% of adults struggle to fit in exercise due to not feeling motivated [9].
25% of adults struggle to fit in exercise due to being too tired [10].
76% of people reported bad sleep quality [11].
The average adult only gets 5.9 hours of sleep, although daily recommendations are 7-9 hours [12].
Hopefully, with these statistics, you'll see what I mean. If you fall into one of these negative percentages, you should focus on improving them before pointing your finger at genetics.
Set Point Theory
Why Obesity Should Be Considered a Chronic Disease | This Morning
The set point theory is called homeostasis. It's when your body resists change to maintain a stable internal environment. Basically, when it comes to weight, it fluctuates around a set range. This is one of the reasons why everyone comes in different shapes and sizes.
Sarah likes science, so let's go. Your range of body fat actually depends on the size of individual fat cells. The hormone that plays a big role in this is leptin. It's the hormone that controls hunger and your metabolic rate. When you burn fat, your body fat cells get smaller, leptin levels decrease, your metabolic rate decreases, but you also become hungrier. The reason for this is so that your body fat increases back to its set point. This process works both ways. If your body fat cells expand in size, leptin levels increase, metabolic rate increases, and you feel less hungry. Again, this is to help your body fat return to its set point.
Unfortunately, when Sarah talks about losing weight and then putting it back on and being bigger than before, she's not wrong. Studies that were performed on rats showed the reason as to why.
At the beginning of one study, the rats were overweight and weighed an average of 700g and had 37 million fat cells. After putting the rats in a calorie deficit, they went down to 600g with not much of a difference in the number of fat cells (39 million), but the size of the fat cells reduced by 16%. From then on, the rats were given access to food without restriction, bearing in mind that at this point their leptin levels were low, their metabolic rate was low, and they were hungry. They then weighed 620g, with a further 6% reduction in fat cell size. Here's the crazy part: their fat cell count increased by 50% to 55 million. This is called pre-adipocyte differentiation.
When the rats returned to their original weight of 700g, their fat cell count remained at 55 million but had increased by 14% in size compared to their original cell size. Although they had regained their original weight, this meant that they still had lower leptin levels and continued to experience hunger due to it signalling a deficit. In the final phase of the study, the rats continued to gain weight, reaching 740g. Their fat cell count remained at 55 million, but the cell size increased back to its original size. Due to the increased number of fat cells being at the original size, they now have a larger fat mass, indicating an increase in their body fat set point.
This falls back on what I said about Sarah's yo-yo dieting. This is the problem.
Genetics
Why Obesity Should Be Considered a Chronic Disease | This Morning
Since 2007, researchers have identified multiple genes that are related to obesity [15, 16]. The FTO gene (Fat mass and obesity related gene) was the first to be found and is actually fairly common for someone to have. People who carry the FTO gene have up to a 30% higher risk of obesity than people who don't. Keep in mind that even the FTO gene only accounts for a small fraction of the gene related susceptibility to obesity [17]. Many people who carry these “obesity genes” don't become overweight, and living a healthy lifestyle by eating healthy and getting enough exercise can counteract these genetic effects.
It's highly unlikely that these genetic changes are responsible for the rapid increase of obesity around the world [18, 19]. This happens because of the gene pool, which basically shows how different genes are spread out in our population and usually stays pretty similar over many generations. While our genes have remained mostly unchanged, what has shifted in the last four decades to drive the increasing rates of obesity? It's our environment.
Environment is an interesting one, because it's possible for the environment to change your genes, for better or for worse. It's the physical, social, and economic factors that influence our eating habits and levels of physical activity. Creating a healthy environment is all about being around the ones you love, having access to nutritious foods, having a clean home, space for physical activity, positive vibes, and less stress.
The majority of things that Zoe mentions are habits. It's true that habits are genetic, but not in the same way as things like your eye colour or blood type. With a habit being a frequent behaviour, it's often learned rather than just being inherited. My previous blog, Preventing Childhood Obesity as Parents, explains how to modify your child's lifestyle and environment from an early age.
Zoe also talked about food responsiveness, which is another behaviour, and is referred to as 'food approach eating behaviour'. Enjoyment of food also falls into that category, and they can both lead to obesity. On the other hand, 'food avoidance eating behaviours', such as being more fussy with food and slowness in eating, have been seen to have a positive effect on obesity [20, 21].
“Genes may co-determine who becomes obese, but our environment determines how many become obese". - Dr Veerman, Professor of Public Health at Griffith University. [22].
What is currently being done?
Why Obesity Should Be Considered a Chronic Disease | This Morning
Updating the numbers, obesity now costs the NHS around £6.5 billion a year [23].
I really like what Sarah mentioned about not necessarily needing more money, but just putting it in the right places. So far, our government has actually made big changes, some that most people don't know about, but we still have a long way to go. Here's whats been introduced since 2015:
In 2018, the government introduced the 'Soft Drinks Industry Levy' which led to the removal of more than 45,000 tonnes of sugar from soft drinks. The average sugar content of soft drinks drinks has decreased by 46% from 2015.
In 2016, calorie labelling was introduced to help people make better decisions when shopping for food. It's expected to bring health benefits of £4.6 billion and provide NHS savings of £430 million over 25 years. In 2022, calorie labelling was added to restaurant and fast food menus.
Supporting children and youth in beginning their lives actively, with more than £600 million allocated for the PE and Sports, along with £22 million designated for the School Games Organisers network.
In 2016, the Sugar Reduction Programme was put into place. Since then there's been a 14.9% reduction of sugar in retailer and manufacturer branded breakfast cereals and 13.5% reduction in yogurts.
As of October 2025, there will be a ban of advertising less healthy products on television and on-demand programmes between 5.30am and 9pm. Advertising less healthy products online will be banned 24/7. Studies show exposure to adverts for unhealthy foods can affect when people eat and what they eat, leading to excess calorie consumption over time [24, 25].
In 2025, multibuy promotions like Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) on less healthy food will be banned [26].
Over the next 25 years, the promotion of unhealthy foods in stores and online will be limited. It's expected to see health benefits of over £57 billion and save the NHS more than £4 billion.
My Conclusion
I do accept those who are obese and willing to make a change, but I don't accept obesity itself. There is absolutely nothing acceptable about it. We've already seen that we can't rely on someone to lose weight just by telling them to eat less and move more. The environment that we live in makes it easier to make unhealthy choices than it does to make healthy choices.
My thoughts:
Replace the bright food packaging of snacks with neutral colours to avoid catching the eyes of people who had no intention of purchasing them in the first place.
Display a small, unremovable step counter on UK phones to make people aware of their daily movement.
Remove unhealthy drinks and snacks from the meal deals at shops: Chocolate bars, crisps, Coca cola, etc. Replace with nutritious bars, fruits, and drinks.
No longer allow snacks to be displayed in the till area of shops. This has been done at certain supermarkets already but is often seen at off licences.
Limit the number of fast food chain restaurants and takeaways.
Please comment below to share your thoughts, or send me a private message.
Full Interview:
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Disclaimer
This blog is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor before starting any new medication or weight loss program.
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