Doctors are warning that harmful attitudes toward obesity are making it harder to treat.

Medics in Ireland are joining others around the world in calling for an end to the misconception that obesity is solely the result of gluttony or laziness.

The Irish Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism has launched a new pledge to remove the stigma around obesity to mark World Obesity Day.

It was developed on the back of research which shows that the condition can run in the family and that modern lifestyle and environmental factors also contribute.

Obesity

St Vincent’s Hospital Consultant Endocrinologist Dr Karl Neff said some people will struggle with obesity no matter how disciplined they are.

“Losing that weight and treating your obesity is extremely difficult,” he said.

“It used to be thought that the reason for that was because people were not trying hard enough.

“They weren’t sticking with the diet or they weren’t doing enough exercise and if they told you they were, they were lying.

“But we now have lots of excellent data now that has shown that in fact, people that go on very long-term, very heavily supervised intensive, structured weight-loss programmes just cannot always lose the weight.”

Stigma

The doctors warned that the media can reinforce the stigma around obesity through the use of inappropriate images, language and terminology that attributes obesity entirely to personal responsibility.

They warned that stigma can lead to people eating more.

Nutrition

Meanwhile, the Irish Heart Foundation is urging the public to support an EU-wide petition calling for confusing nutrition information on food to be replaced with clear and simple information that allows shoppers to make the healthy choice.

It said a new poll shows that:

• 77% of Irish adults support regulations requiring colour-coded food labelling that indicates if a product is healthy or unhealthy.
• 73% back rules preventing any claim of nutrition or health benefits on packaging for products that are high in fat, sugar, and salt.

The foundation is calling on people to sign a petition calling on the EU to implement the ‘Nutri-Score’ – a colour coded system that rank foods on a scale from A (healthy choices) to E (less healthy choices) depending on their nutritional value.

You can access the petition here.