August 2015 Issue
IN THIS ISSUE
Alliance & Member News
News Round-Up



     
One of the goals of the STOP Obesity Alliance is to base our work on the premise that obesity is the product of a complex interplay of many different factors. The origins of a disease like obesity are numerous and include biologic, genetic, behavioral, cultural, environmental, social, political, and economic influences. As an alliance, we avoid pinpointing a singular source of the obesity epidemic. However, a new documentary with a particular focus on food is worth mentioning.

That Sugar Film was released in the U.S. at the end of July and follows Australian actor Damon Gameau for 60 days as he forgoes his long-term sugar-free diet. His goal was to match the sugar intake of the average Australian by consuming 40 teaspoons of sugar each day. That's approximately 160 grams of sugar, more than five times the daily value recommended by the American Heart Association and only slightly higher than the daily 124 grams consumed by the average American.

What makes this film different from other documentaries like Supersize Me or Fed Up is Gameau's decision to avoid the well-known high sugar culprits like soda, candy, and ice cream. Instead, Gameau consistently chooses seemingly "healthy" food options like smoothies, low-fat yogurt, granola bars, cereal, and juice. He also continued regular physical activity and exercise. By the end of his two month experiment with foods generally perceived to be "healthy," he had gained 18 pounds, an additional 7 percent body fat, and 10 centimeters around his waistline. His medical team cautioned that he had quickly approached the risk point for fatty liver disease as well as high cholesterol.

In contrast to Supersize Me, Gameau did not deliberately set out to overfeed himself. However, the consequences of obtaining this quantity of sugar from food may also have led to overfeeding. Like Supersize Me, it is difficult to separate the consequences of excess caloric intake from the consequences of getting 160 grams of sugar a day from foods. This experiment with a sample size of one also suggests that regardless of the source of excess calories, overfeeding has adverse health consequences.

While Gameau's personal experience is just that, personal, the film attempts to approach the issue of sugar consumption from a less anecdotal perspective. Gameau interviews members of the Aboriginal Amata community and travels to the United States to speak with members of a rural Appalachian community in eastern Kentucky. The residents of these very different areas brought to light the different ways culture and environment can influence health.

Gameau also briefly discusses weight bias and criticizes the standard response to obesity. "When it comes to obesity and illness, the food industry has always argued that people need to take personal responsibility," he says. "[They have] insisted that obesity is caused by too many calories and not enough exercise, which implies that anyone overweight is simply lazy or greedy...The result is that we feel like failures if we are overweight."

Despite a narrow focus on only one contributor to obesity, the film attempts to knit together the experience of an individual and a larger community, while revealing the sugar content of "healthy" foods. That Sugar Film provides a solid-and often entertaining-foundation for one very narrow aspect of obesity etiology. 

   
Thanks,

 
Alliance & Member News
Alliance & Member News
IOM to Host Workshop on Early Childhood Obesity
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Roundtable on Obesity Solutions will host "Obesity in the Early Childhood Years: State of the Science and Implementation of Promising Solutions." The workshop's speakers and panelists will focus on overweight and obesity in the earliest years of life, identify promising points of intervention, and highlight innovative, cross-sector solutions for prevention and treatment of obesity among young children. Register here for the live event or tune in to the webcast.

ASBP Review Course Helps Physicians Study for the ABOM Exam
American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP) is offering an obesity medicine certification review course at its fall conference, Overcoming Obesity 2015, for those physicians preparing for the December American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM) certification exam. Physicians that participate in the review course are eligible for up to 13 hours of continuing medical education credit for attending the review course and up to 30 hours of credit for attending the entire conference. This year's conference will take place Sept. 30 - Oct. 4. Learn more and register here.
 
OAC's 4th Annual Your Weight Matters National Convention Empowered Attendees and Paved the Way for Future Activism
Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) welcomed 575 registrants to its fourth annual Your Weight Matters National Convention this month. The convention empowered attendees to recognize the complexities of obesity and stand with OAC. Health care leaders shared necessary evidence-based information to improve weight and health as well as information on how to move forward with OAC in raising awareness of obesity, combating weight bias, advocating for access to care and much more. Click here to read more.
News Round-Up
News Round-Up

The Childhood Obesity Epidemic Doesn't Strike Canada As Hard; CDC Recommends America Follow Its Healthy Habits
August 26, 2015
Medical Daily
By Samantha Olson
 
The article discusses how America's childhood obesity population is growing at a rate faster than Canada's. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s National Center for Health Statistics compared the childhood obesity population in the U.S. to the Canadian population because both countries had similar childhood obesity populations in the late 1970s. According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in America over the last 30 years. Comparing America's children with obesity to Canada's may help illuminate some underlying drivers of the obesity epidemic and give America an opportunity to explore these differences, possibly  leading to interventions.
 
Helpful Physicians May Be Key to Successful Weight Loss
August 24, 2015
Medical News Today
By James McIntosh
 
A recent study published in Patient Education and Counseling found that people with obesity who noted that a health care provider's support is particularly helpful lost twice as much weight as those who did not. Researchers studied a group of people with obesity taking part in a clinical trial for weight loss and noted that many weight-loss programs utilized by patients with obesity are commercially run and patients often sign-up without discussing the programs with their health care providers. The researchers conclude that joining with primary care physicians to deliver weight-loss programs may lead to greater participant gratification and increased rates of weight loss.
  
August 24, 2015
The New York Times
By Maxine Levy
 
The article notes that the Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas recently refurbished 862 single-patient rooms to accommodate the growing number of patients with obesity. The updated hospital is designed so that any patient can go into any room, rather than having specific bariatric rooms. According to a senior executive at Hammes Company, a hospital consulting group, most hospitals are beginning to provide an increasingly large percentage of rooms that accommodate people with obesity. Dr. David Provost, a surgeon who worked at Parkland Hospital until 2008, believes that patients with obesity will be better off when they can recover in a clinical area based on their surgical procedure or disease process, rather than a separate bariatric unit or wing. 
 
Obesity Comes as a Side Order to Cheap Food
August 22, 2015
The Boston Globe
By Evan Horowitz
 
According to the article, many believe that making unhealthy food more expensive could be one way to halt the obesity crisis in the U.S. Currently, individuals with a lower-income in the U.S. tend to have higher obesity rates, particularly low-income women. The relatively low price of unhealthy food may contribute to these higher obesity rates. The article notes that as food gets cheaper, people tend to eat more, and this may be a reason that obesity has become a public health crisis.
 
The Perils of Obesity Prejudices
August 4, 2015
Huffington Post
By Scott Kahan
 
Dr. Kahan notes that one of the most damaging aspects of obesity is the weight bias and stigma associated with the condition. Negative attitudes and stereotypes toward patients with obesity have been seen among physicians, nurses, dieticians, and more. Additionally, studies have shown that as a patient's BMI increases, physicians report less respect and engage in less emotional rapport. Dr. Kahan emphasizes that people with obesity should always be treated with the same respect, empathy and sensitivity as any other patient or person.
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