Report on women's health by the Chief Medical Officer

It's all a bit old hat isn't it?! Haven't we known for years now that we are all at least a bit too fat, and some of us are actually obese? Surely the message is out there by now.

I prefer Laras* thread. We said it all on there.

Have we really got to go over it all again?

Serious though obesity is I think it is going over the top to call it as a big a threat as terrorism.

Actually, why has she taken so long to make a noise about this? She's been in the job since 2010! Who knew? I didn't. Thought it was still the old Liam Donaldson bloke. (of the plastic washing up bowls fame)

I thought that, but then when you count up the number of deaths from terrorism in this country and compare that number with the number of deaths directly attributable to obesity, the latter would most likely be the higher figure, by a long way.

I have been overweight for years. I have never been treated for any aspect of it or needed treatment. I see my GP when I am sent for as at 78 they are supposed to keep an eye on us old folk. It happens about every other year. We generalise too much.

You have a point there jbf

Oh, do call me jingl. It's much more friendly!

Ok jing as this just seems to be our thread I agree

My maternal grandmother was certainly overweight and possibly obese (she was quite short), she died at 90 having suffered very little illness even at the end of her life. My mother is now 93 and dieted intensely until about 10 years ago. She has always had health problems and I can't count the number of times she has been in hospital. Extreme overweight may cause a number of problems but being slightly heavier doesn't. There are now people presenting with osteoporosis early in life because of dieting and low weight. No extreme is healthy.

I think that these headlines forget that being obese is a contributory factor rather than the cause, if it was the cause everyone who was overweight would have diabetes etc

Some research I saw several years ago suggested that if an obese person had a healthy diet and was physically active their health and life expectancy were no different from people who were not obese.

I speak with feeling, DD is obese, has been since birth, she was born with a big round tummy. I worried about it with health visitors and diet advisors when she was a child and tried not to visibly worry about it when she was a teenager. She has always been very active. When she was at school someone once said to her, 'you eat very little lunch and never go to the tuck shop and you are always swimming and playing tennis, why are you so fat?' Her reply was 'I do not know I just am'.

It is possible there is a genetic element through her father's maternal line. Her mother was one of a large family and we can trace in each generation for at least four generations one or two members with her particular shape and weight pattern. DH also struggles to keep his weight within acceptable limits. I have never had any particular weight problem except around the menopause, which I dealt with.

DH is in her mid-40s, swims 8 - 10 miles a week, does a couple of hours in the gym and has no medical problems of any kind, blood pressure, blood sugar all well within normal limits for her age. We recently had a day in London, during which, according to an app on her phone we both walked 9 miles without any problem at all.

OIbesity is not a one size fits all problem. As goose says these headlines forget that being obese is a contributory factor rather than the cause, if it was the cause everyone who was overweight would have diabetes etc

We should not just be thinking about life expectancy and just give examples of relatives who bucked the trend against a particular lifestyle issues.
My PGM was one, she died at 95 but had been blind for several years due to ARMD (macular degeneration) after a life time of heavy smoking.

Look at the huge costs to the NHS of dealing with diseases like type 2 diabetes. That in itself can cause an array of other serious health conditions that need treating and monitoring.

What irritates me more than anything about discussions about medical problems, or other social problems come to that, is the 'one size fits all' attitude to both cause and effect. Like everything, there may well be certain causes and effects that apply to a significant number of people, but not all and those unfortunate to fall into the non-common cause group get dismissed because they do not conform to the norm.

Obesity has many more causes than just eating too much and not exercising. Many people are emotional eaters, here what needs dealing with, is the triggers and how to control them. Measures like taxes on sugar and high fat foods, or traffic signal warnings on labels are unlikely to have any effect on people eating because they are sad or lonely or depressed.

The complete lack of any culinary skills among a large segment of the population is also contributory. How can you cook good healthy meals, when you have absolutely no idea how to cook and no experience of others around you cooking either.

I might add that the pictures I have seen of Dame Sally, do suggest that she does not take her own advice.

There was some research (can't find it now!) that suggested that being too think in middle and older age was not good for you either.

There's also evidence that both animals and human beings who have a restricted calorie intake have a longer life expectancy Lucky.
I think it's a pity that the headlines and the comment on here so far have been restricted to the Chief MO's comments about obesity.
She also called for much better therapy for those (mainly girls and women) who suffer with eating disorders - good.
Then there were her comments about the treatment of ovarian cancer.
"The report also called for better treatment for ovarian cancer, which kills more women in England than any other gynaecological cancer.
With survival from the cancer among the lowest among developed nations, Dame Sally recommends longer operating times to increase the likelihood that all the cancer is removed during surgery."

What on earth is that about? We have low survival rates in this country because the surgeons don't take long enough to completely remove tumours?
I'd to know a lot more about whether this assertion is backed up by evidence.

I find that part of the report a bit alarming too jane why on earth would they hurry with something so dangerous.

That certainly does sound odd. Personally I think that ovarian and breast cancer have poorer outcomes because of the poor follow-up. I know two people with this and one gets regular checks with full body scans if there is a hint of a change in blood test results; the other is called in every couple of years and asked if she feels OK and if she says Yes she is sent off home.

"Longer operating times" - what the heck is that about? Is she suggesting that surgeons stop what they are doing and don't bother to remove all the tumour because they are late for the golf course? They might of course be under pressure from targets; but it is unimaginable that they would only do half a job on a patient on the table in front of them.

Yes. But what a miserable distended. Always wanting to chew your own arm.

When pressure is put on a system from one direction, an effect will be felt somewhere else.
If you set a target that all patients must be treated within a time frame, and the number of patients increases, the only way you can meet that timeframe is either by increasing the number of surgeons operating, or decrease the time the existing number of surgeons spend on the individual patient.
In the context of the NHS, which scenario is more likely?

If the targets were quality related (better survival outcomes for patients) instead of time related, then more time has to be bought, through employing more staff, to allow sufficient time to be spent to do the job properly.

I guess that there's a huge difference between women who are healthy and exercise sufficiently and those who are overweight because they eat junk food and don't exercise. Not fair that the former are branded in the same way, but the latter [imo] are a ticking time bomb. When I'm out and about I do notice these days how overweight a hell of a lot of people are .

I hate this mini iPad. With a sodding vengeance.

Whenever someone suggests people should try to be a healthy weight there is this outcry.

Everywhere I look I see overweight people and obese people. I know some lovely people who are very fat, so this is nothing against the person but the body they have built around themselves.

Even fat people know they are too fat and would probably like to weigh less, if it wasn't so hard.

We all know the link between obesity and tyoe 2 diabetes. We all know it costs the NHD £1,000,000 every hour and could bring the NHS to bankruptcy, but hey ho! don't dare suggest that obesity is caused by eating too much and if people would take themselves seriously in hand they could shed the pounds.

This the whole point Anya, taking a whole group and doing the 'one size fits all' for cause and effect. Life isn't that simple. The causes for overweight and over-eating are many and various and you have to treat those before you can expect people to lose weight. Your argument is akin with those whose reaction to people suffering from depreression was that they should buck themselves up and snap out of it. We now appreciate that to treat depression we need to get to the underlying causes and treat those

I write as someone who is not overweight, so I am not self-defensive on this issue.

Some research I saw several years ago suggested that if an obese person had a healthy diet and was physically active their health and life expectancy were no different from people who were not obese.

I saw a report on that not long ago as well M0nica. I think the reports were quite conclusive.