Separating fat from fiction on true extent of our 'obesity crisis'
We're not as fat as we think we are -- that's the conclusion of a three-year research project into social theory and health by a top University of Limerick academic, Lee Monaghan.
His project has raised serious questions about the true extent of Ireland's "weight crisis".
Over the last decade, a variety of public health officials, researchers and dieting gurus have raised the issue of an "obesity epidemic'', which an American surgeon general called "the terror within''.
Sociologist Lee Monaghan claims the science behind the war against fat is highly uncertain. An increasing body of evidence says "the gold standard'' of weight, known as the Body Mass Index (BMI), is not a reliable determinant of health.
Mr Monaghan claims that, using this measurement, the entire Munster rugby team could be described as obese. Some of the biggest icons of masculinity, like Brad Pitt and George Clooney, also would fail to meet BMI standards.
Official statistics say the majority of men in countries such as Ireland are either overweight or obese, but Mr Monaghan says: "It should be recognised that claims about an obesity epidemic aren't really about extreme cases -- they are about everybody; people who in fact may be perfectly healthy regardless of their weight, and who may follow healthy lifestyles even though medically labelled too heavy,'' says the Limerick academic who has just written a book on the subjected entitled Men and the War on Obesity.
He said "the idea of what constitutes a healthy weight is contested to the extent where, in America, statistics on the correlations between early death and obesity have been revised downwards from 400,000 to just 26,000".
The good news for the man with a bit of a tummy is that Mr Monaghan also says research has shown those who are just above their supposed "healthy weight" according to the BMI are "more likely to live longer than those in the so-called healthy weight and underweight categories''.
"Stress about the need to be a 'correct weight' may be more significant when it comes to people's health than their actual body weight,'' he says, adding that public health campaigns need to be revised.
- JOHN DRENNAN
