By the way . . . Doctors must get tough on obesity

TWO popular TV chefs are grappling with the problem of rising obesity, the greatest health issue of the era. But are they up to the task?

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says GPs should weigh patients — whatever the reason for their appointment — as a nudge to open up the conversation about obesity and its consequences: blindness (as a complication of type 2 diabetes), heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver supports the push for a sugar tax on all sweet snacks and not just soft drinks as we have now and restrictions on the advertising of junk food products to children.

I fear that Hugh is hopelessly wrong on this. Doctors have tried the gentle nudge, and it does not help patients lose weight.

However, Jamie — and Hugh — are definitely on the right track when it comes to the marketing of high sugar content products, and the shamefully vast arrays of the stuff you see in supermarkets, garages, even gyms.

Obesity is often driven by ignorance — ie a lack of education about healthy food choices in schools, lack of structure (and family meals) in the home, and lack of discipline from parents who just don’t know how to say no.

This coincides with the drive towards ever cheaper, and less healthy, industrialised food production, along with shopping in supermarkets (all that processed food). As for all those celebrity chef cookery shows, they mask the fact that most viewers watch them while scoffing a ready meal.

People want food to be easy, cheap and yummy, and convenient — and let’s not think about the result of sugar and salt excess.

So yes, bring in a sugar tax that covers more than soft drinks. But it’s also time doctors got brutal. We need to tell patients that a waist of more than 31 inches for women and 37 inches for men means they’re en route to an early death, and that’s a matter of personal shame.

The time for gentle nudges is over.