"Mummy, I don't want vegetables, I want something from McDonalds" ...

Hello once again everyone. How are we all feeling? If you're holding any form of fatty substance whilst reading this, I apologise. I wanted to discuss this within a blogpost, because I want to see what others think about the topic of obesity. I am mainly concentrating on obesity in children, but comments on obesity as a whole are welcome, as I just want to see what other's opinions are. I recently watched a programme done by the BBC about obesity in India. Apparently, due to the rapid modernisation of the big cities in India (especially Mumbai), there is an increased risk of obesity in both children and adults. The show concentrated around two boys of thirteen and twenty or so, who were both classed as overweight/obese. Kaleb, the thirteen year old boy ended up having surgery in order to place a gastric band around his stomach. This was in order to help him lose weight and to enable him to get a head-start in his weight-loss programme. According to the doctor that performed the surgery, Kaleb was one of his youngest patients and he claimed that he was initially quite reluctant to go through with it. But, with permission from his mother, the operation went ahead. Upon passing the news on to his grandparents, they seemed saddened that Kaleb and his mother, Dimple, had to resort to surgery. But it was clear to the viewers of the show that there really was no other option. Kaleb's father had passed away when he was quite young and food had been his comfort. It seemed like a vicious cycle for him, as the more he ate, the bigger he got, and the more people started to bully him. But, yet again he turned to food for comfort. Hopefully he is doing a lot better and is now on a good path towards reducing his weight and he will thus lessen the risk of the onset of diabetes in later life.

The second boy, was a university student called Adit. He told the lady who was narrating the show that he weighed around 126kg and that his favourite snack restaurant was McDonalds. Later on, when she persuaded him to visit the doctor's and undergo a general check-up, his weight had plummeted to 142kg. He then had a meeting with the doctor and was alarmed when the doctor claimed that he could identify physical features on Adit that hinted towards diabetes. It wasn't  particularly surprising because India apparently has the largest number of diabetics in the world (around 50 million they say, which is estimated to rise to 100 million if the epidemic continues). He seemed blissfully unaware of all the risks posed on his health by his bad eating habits. But, his excuse was that as he was able to do what his much thinner/healthier friends could do and so he claimed that his weight wasn't causing him any harm. It was tragic to see that he didn't take the consequences seriously. His mother even refused to allow him to revisit the doctor's the next day for a blood sample, because she was convinced that the doctor was only frightening him to get money, by performing costly surgeries. Later on in the show, the doctor warned the lady who narrated the show, that cases like this were common and that Adit would definitely return for some form of weight-loss surgery, but probably when he weighs a lot more and he has no other options whatsoever.

It's sad to see that people so freely ignore their health. Obesity is everywhere. I only chose this programme in particular because it featured 'Supersize kids' in India, a country that seems unlikely to be suffering from such a problem. However, within the more westernised countries, the problem of obesity seems to be targeting the people who are less educated, that live in the poorer communities. The case is completely the opposite in India and probably most Asian countries. The affluent people are the ones falling into the trap. They have the money to spend in places like KFC and McDonalds, unlike the people suffering from poverty who have to make do with the street food (which is generally much healthier). These people that are becoming overweight/obese are actually fairly educated, but they seem to neglect their health. Adit being a university student should have known the consequences, but chose to ignore them.

When questioning the food agencies, they all argue that their menus always offer healthier options, but the people are never keen to opt for those. In Britain there are policies preventing McDonalds and other such companies from advertising on kid's televisions. But, unfortunately, such restrictions have not been placed in India. The food agencies need to make money and they do this by selling the people what they want. The 'health' factor doesn't seem to play a very important role. In fact, when the lady went and spoke to someone who was part of a particular food agency, he admitted that no attempts were really being made to improve the food being sold in these places. He confessed that it wasn't one of their priorities. I suppose they have no need to emphasise balanced diets, if they're making enough and more money by selling the food that they are currently selling. I just hope the situation doesn't get too uncontrollable. Personally, I don't think there's any point in getting to the root of who to blame for obesity. It's more important for each particular section in society; be it doctors, restaurant owners, food agencies or even people, to combat the crisis together. Hopefully more effort will be focused on getting rid of the problem, rather than getting to the bottom of the cause of it. What do you think?

Adios. xxx