Addressing the global, environmental crisis of obesity

By Dennis Archambault

Obesity, like cancer, is not one disease. That’s the assertion of Elizabeth Mayer Davis, a professor of nutrition and medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For members of the MOTION Coalition on childhood obesity, facilitated by Authority Health, this is generally understood. Surgical intervention, social policy change, peer pressure, health literacy, personal behavioral changes are among the various aspects of this complex condition. In order to treat it, Dr. Mayer-Davis says, “you really have to be thinking about biology and behavior and society and culture and policy all at the same time. Because if you miss any one of those pieces, your intervention or your diet – it’s less likely to actually work.

In a recent article published in the New York Times, “Why isn’t there a diet that works for everyone,” (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/magazine/why-isnt-there-a-diet-that-works-for-everyone.html) the writer, Kim Tingley, reported a frustrating statistic: 57 percent of the American diet is comprised of ultra processed food –  food that is “cheap, convenient, tasty and shelf-stable. This statistic is rising, despite the ongoing news media reporting, localized health education programs, and social marketing programs aimed at increasing awareness and changing dietary habits. It’s frustrating that the inclination to eat poorly is happening in the face of increasing communication and research. Something is awry.

Another topic raised by Dr. William Dietz, co-chair of the MOTION Coalition, at its recent meeting, is the impact of the global food economy on chronic disease and climate change. Citing the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Plant, and Health, he advised the changes in consumption of meat proteins and growing techniques could have a major impact on personal health and global climate. In an editorial, The Lancet, an international medical journal, wrote, “Intensive meat production is on an unstoppable trajectory comprising the single greatest contributor to climate change. Humanity’s dominant diets are not good for us, and they are not good for the planet.”

Jane E. Brody,  a New York Times food and nutrition writer, wrote “A Guide to Sustainable Eating,” (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/well/eat/a-guide-to-sustainable-eating.html)

while is patterned on the report cited by Dr. Dietz. “For more than a century, most Americans have been eating far too high on the hog for the sake of their own health and the health of the planet. … You would do best for your health and the planet by gradually adopting a diet that derives most of its protein from plants – including legumes and nuts – with farmed seafood as your primary animal food along with moderate amounts of poultry and eggs.”

This is great, certainly appropriate advice. But how do you resist the pressures of highly stressed working families, pressured by household economics, time, and advertising, as well as the preponderance of fast food businesses offering “cheap, convenient, tasty, and shelf-stable” ultra processed food – even “impossible” burgers that claim to originate with plants?

This is a global health crisis with environmental implications, that needs much greater urgency among policy makers.

Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health.