Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Powerlessness of Obesity "Treatment"

I would like you to take a look at this two-page editorial which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine - NEJM - in 2009.  It is in response to a research study, which we probably discussed at some point, which reviewed the impact of different macro nutrient combinations on weight loss in  a reduced calorie situation. 
I have always contented and made arguments regarding, the futility of diets.
Here are two specific points in the article by Dr. Martijn Katan that I want to bring to your attention:
Evidently, individual treatment is powerless against an environment that offers so many high-calorie foods and labor-saving devices (p924)
AND
 ...we may need a new approach to preventing and to treating obesity and it must be a total-environment approach that involves and activates entire neighborhoods and communities. ... because the only effective alternative that we have at present for halting the obesity epidemic is large-scale gastric surgery(p924)   (YIKES!!)
 In the article, Dr. Katan gives an example of an intervention in France where one of the strategies used was "cooking workshops."  To which I say, "Volumetrics anyone?"  My You Tube channel is ready to hit the road :)

Referenced Editorial by:
Martijn B. Katan, Ph.D.
Published here:
N Engl J Med 2009; 360:923-925
 February 26, 2009

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