don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood. Clarence Darrow

Last week, researchers based at Boston's Children's Hospital announced that regular ingestion of meals purchased at fast food outlets combined with high TV viewing (2 1/2 hours daily, on average) tripled the risk of obesity. Other results were consistent with this obvious conclusion, based on a 15-year tracking of nearly 4000 white and black residents of four major cities. One not-so-obvious but interesting finding was that while fast food increased the risks dramatically for whites, it made no difference for blacks. Can you guess why? The study authors explained (in an AP release dated 3/10/03), "Black people's diets are often just as unhealthy at home as they are at the drive-through window. So, a lot of fast food doesn't make matters any worse than they already are."

Matters are so bad already for all races that it could be argued that fast food is more of a threat than Saddam, or other nasty characters in awful places, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Alabama. As a consequence of our fast food culture and sedentary lifestyles in schools and elsewhere, tomorrow's adults will likely suffer unprecedented levels of chronic degenerative disease -- if they live long enough to be counted in these data.

In Canada, obesity rates in children aged seven to 13 years have more than doubled; an obesity expert (Kelly Brownell of Yale University) recently asserted the case for the existence of a "toxic food environment" in North America. This environment includes not only fast food outlets; it encompasses shopping malls, gas stations, vending machines, movie theatres and regular restaurants. All provide alluring treats that are low in cost and high in fat. Combined with the dramatic decline in physical activity and a food industry "run amok" with its clever packaging, advertising, and attractive oversizing, diners are led "to choose the wrong kinds of foods and then to consume too much of them." (Brownell)

How bad is the problem or, how great a threat is this toxic aspect of American culture? According to Brownell and NIH data, overweight/obesity costs are put at $99.2 billion, with a direct cost of $51.6 billion (5.7 percent of the U.S. health expenditure) and an indirect cost of $47.6 billion (comparable to the economic costs of cigarette smoking.) Estimates of lost productivity related to obesity alone are about $4 billion. The greater impact is all avoidable illness and human suffering, not so easy to put into dollar terms.

So, what's to be done? Here are ten suggestions, starting with the personal to the societal. We can't, as individuals, do much about the latter, save as part of larger movements that seek results over time. We can do a lot, on our own, about strategies involving individual action.

1. Limit TV and avoid fast food establishments.
2. Learn to prepare tasty meals that are nutritious.
3. Keep fruits around the house in plentiful supply.
4. Educate your children daily about why good food and exercise matter. Make such communications interesting and emphasize short-term positive benefits that appeal to the young.
5. Work with your local school board and teachers. Seek subsidies to defray the cost of fruits and vegetables; ask local officials to prohibit pop drinks and fast food vending machines at schools. Don't expect any of this to be easy or near-term -- there are more than 5,000 food franchises operating in schools.
6. Urge your local schools to make physical activity more prominent, interesting and accessible.
7. Support politicians who show an interest in encouraging healthy lifestyles. Better to focus on ways to improve the population's health status rather than rely entirely on payment systems for more medical care.
8. Encourage increased regulation of TV ads aimed at children and higher taxes on junk foods.
9. Work with companies. Since business organizations sustain most of these costs via their insurance plan benefits, efforts should be made at the workplace to make healthy lifestyles a job requirement, as is law-abiding behavior, ethical conduct and good human relations. An employee who fails to effectively self-manage hurts the organization, whether it be large or small.
10. Don't buy Coca-Cola products or stock, or patronize other companies that are part of the problem. Coke is sold in 200 countries; it is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of soft drink concentrates and syrups in the world. Total value of company stock is about $152 billion -- that's half again more than the costs related to obesity in one year.

I mention this just to put the role of Coke, and the entire fast food/sedentary aspect of American culture, in perspective with Saddam Hussein. Maybe we should see if Secretary Colin Powell could get the UN to go along with a war on obesity instead of Iraq.

Oh well, try to look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of nutrition. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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