Posted on: Friday, August 23, 2002

Obesity expert blames Americans' 'fat' society

By Nanci Hellmich
USA Today

International obesity expert Philip James was meeting with several weight-loss researchers recently in the United States when he jokingly told them: "Please don't change because you have a wonderful environment to make everybody obese and diabetic, and the rest of the world will look at you and know exactly what not to do."

James doesn't think obesity is a laughing matter, but he believes millions of Americans will continue to struggle with their weight unless the environment changes drastically.

And he should know. James is chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, a nonprofit organization fighting obesity around the world. The British nutrition expert travels the globe talking with policymakers about how to curb obesity epidemics.

He's one of the featured speakers next week at a meeting of obesity experts in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He's also working on the upcoming World Health Organization's recommendations on nutrition and physical activity.

Worldwide, more than 1 billion people are overweight, and of those, 300 million are obese, according to the International Obesity Task Force. About 61 percent, or more than 120 million people, in the United States are either overweight or obese, according to government statistics. Obesity is roughly 30 pounds over a healthy weight.

James says obesity is the biggest reversible health problem in the world. It increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, several types of cancers and arthritis.

Childhood obesity around the world is particularly disturbing, and the United States is one of the countries where it's the worst.

"You've got the most amazing catastrophe with an increase in Type 2 diabetes among children," he says.

As an outsider looking in, James says Americans have been "mentally conditioned" to believe it's an individual's responsibility to maintain weight, but he thinks it's a larger societal issue. "That individualism is one of your strengths, but it's a disaster in health terms. The assumption is that everybody is able to make their own decisions, however appalling the environment."

To maintain a healthy weight, anybody with a tendency to gain has to behave "abnormally and reject all the pressures to be like other modern Americans," James says.

Among the problems that he thinks are sabotaging Americans' weight:

— Children are being bombarded with advertisements, and the majority of those ads are for foods and drinks that "any sophisticated nutritionist" would suggest eating and drinking only rarely.

— "Your schools often serve junk food and have vending machines selling soft drinks and confectionary in an attempt to distract children from an appropriate diet."

— There aren't enough ways to do spontaneous physical activities like riding a bike or walking. "You can't go to the mall without going in your car."

— "You don't allow people in your streets to play. Your streets are built only for one thing: a motor car."

— It's virtually impossible to go up and down the stairs in many buildings "unless you go into these appalling fire escapes."

"You have done everything possible to dissuade Americans from doing anything. What I'm describing has never happened to the human race in the whole history. You've got yourself into a vicious cycle."

Nutritionist Chris Rosenbloom, associate dean for the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia State University in Atlanta, says there's a lot of truth to what James is saying.

"Yes, it's a societal issue that needs fixing, but right now the bottom line is people make their own decisions," she says.

There are healthy options, but people often don't choose them, she says. "They supersize their fast food, and then they blame the fast food industry for their weight problems. If someone decides to take the elevator one flight down instead of walking the stairs, that's their decision."

She says the obesity problem is further complicated by the long hours people work, which leaves them little time for exercising and eating right.

James doesn't think simply educating people about the obesity problem is the solution. He says millions of dollars can be spent trying to educate people, and the impact on fat is negligible.

It has to be easier to do physical activity as part of your daily life, James says. Studies in Europe show the benefits of community bicycle paths. "If you don't have separate cycle tracks, you're not a civilized country.

"There is an enormous amount of research that shows you can completely alter the environment, and people will automatically get up and on their feet."

He believes the USA can fix what's broken, but the country must make some wholesale changes in the environment. "In the United States, more than any other country, you can take new findings and do things," James says. "It's amazing that you haven't got a grip on the basic principles."