By Stephanie Schupska
University of
Georgia
Every four days, 3,200 people die due to obesity. And behind
the deaths are the individuals dealing with the disease, said
Judith Stern, a University of California-Davis professor of
nutrition and internal medicine.
That’s how Stern opened her 2005 D.W. Brooks Lecture, “Can We
Fight Obesity without Fighting the Obese?” She delivered the
annual University of Georgia lecture Oct. 3 in Athens.
“It’s time for all of us to ‘step up to the plate’ about
obesity,” she said after noting she’s an Oakland A’s fan. “We
can’t do it alone. We absolutely can’t.”
The “us” she discussed isn’t just consumers or fast food
restaurants. She includes the National Institutes of Health,
the healthcare system, food industry, Department of
Transportation (for promoting inactivity and forgetting
sidewalks) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (for
abnormally high standards for obesity drugs).
“Obesity is a chronic disease,” she said. “It requires chronic
treatment.”
Insurance companies cover healthcare costs for people who spent
too much time in the sun and develop melanoma, Stern said. They
pay for liver disease treatment for those who drank too much
and for lung cancer treatment for smokers. But they don’t
recognize obesity as a disease.
“It’s the last area that’s seen as OK to discriminate,” Stern
said. “Blaming the obese doesn’t work.”
Stern referred to Stedman’s Medical Dictionary before
pronouncing obesity a disease. To be listed as a disease, a
condition must meet two of three criteria: recognized agents,
identifiable signs and symptoms and consistent anatomical
alterations.
Obesity meets all three.
“The health care system is the house, and obesity is the hole
in the roof,” Stern said. “If you don’t fix the hole, every
time it rains, the furniture and rugs are going to get
damaged. … We spend billions each year on heart disease,
asthma and other illnesses that have been proven to get better
as obesity goes down.”
Stern looked at the institutes and centers under the National
Institute of Health umbrella. Of the 27, not one focuses solely
on obesity. In 2004, she said, the NIH scheduled $2.87 billion
for AIDS research. Money funneled toward obesity was $442
million.
But research and health care don’t address obesity’s “why,”
Stern said.
The numbers of obese people are growing because people eat too
much. In 1970, the average person ate 2,220 calories a day.
Now, the average is 2,680.
Portion sizes have increased. When Stern married in 1964, she
received the “Joy of Cooking” cookbook. She recently opened the
new edition and checked the yellow rice recipe. The ingredients
are the same, but now it serves four people. In 1964, the same
amount served six.
“We suffer from portion distortion,” Stern said.
She uses megamuffins, french fries and soft drinks as examples.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says one serving of muffin
is 100 calories. The megamuffin has 800 calories.
“Who cuts it into eight and shares it with seven other people?”
Stern asked. “I don’t.”
One serving of fries is 1 ounce, or 10 fries. The original
McDonald’s container held 2 ounces. Now, they serve a super
with 610 calories, or just over six servings.
“To the consumer, they’re all the same size because they
consume size,” she said.
One serving of a soft drink is 6 ounces and 75 calories. Her
son recently bought a 52-ounce, 650-calorie “X-treme Gulp” from
a convenience store.
“I told him, ‘Daniel, you have to share that drink with five-
and-a-half other people,’ ” she said.
Perceived savings factors in, too. In June 2004, a store
advertised a 32-ounce beverage special for 49 cents. The 12-
ounce size cost 79 cents.
“I saved 30 cents, but gained 250 calories,” she said. “In two
weeks, I’ll have gained an extra pound for only $4.20.”
(Stephanie Schupska is a news editor with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
