Fat People Are Just Greedy?
What makes people fat? Is it just because they are “greedy”?
“The head of the British Medical Association has sparked a row after claiming that fat people are simply greedy.
Dr Hamish Meldrum was reported yesterday as saying doctors over-medicalise the condition.
Obesity experts rounded on him saying his remarks were unhelpful and anachronistic…
Dr Meldrum said an obsession with labels may be stopping overweight people from tackling their problems. He said: “We are saying ‘This patient has a hyper-appetite problem’ rather than ‘They are just greedy’.”" (The Telegraph)
I agree with him on one thing - obesity is over-medicalised and over-medicated like so much in our society is now. But to say that people who are fat are “just greedy” is severely trivialising it. There is no doubt that to a certain extent being fat is genetic, and “[l]atest thinking suggests that genetics could be responsible for between 30 per cent to 70 per cent of cases.”
Of course, genetics alone cannot and do not determine precisely who and what we are, but they do point in a certain direction. Lifestyle is undoubtedly also a component in obesity but not just, or even only, due to sheer greed. Lack of exercise is also going to be a cause, to start with, along with eating the right amount - but of the wrong thing.
On the other hand, lifestyle can be modified. It is possible to eat less, to eat better, or to do more exercise. So “greed” cannot be ruled out as a big component of obesity, in one form or another. But for the head of the BMA to make such a declaration, certainly in the way he has phrased it, is wrong. Some fat or obese people may well be “just greedy”, but that certainly isn’t going to be the only cause for even them, and certainly not every obese person in Britain, which is nearing a quarter of our population. That is a scary thought.
Source: The Telegraph
This entry is filed under Health, Obesity. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.







Nobody can generalise in any sort of sincere manner about obesity; especially not someone who works in the industry!
Saying that though, some of the heads of “health-orientated” organisations know bugger all about health. Those murderers at N.I.C.E. come to mind.
I bet you this geezer meldrum knows nothing specific about “fat people” and how they become fat. Of course there are lazy people who are fat, but I know not all conditions that cause the weight to pile on are as a result of being idle! What if you break a leg?
I s’pose some cunt from the the EUrolander reichcouncil, opps, I mean the government, had a word in his ear. You know how these socialist pricks think they know what’s best for everyone. I mean look at Prescott and Brown…aint they nice and slim and fit looking? No!
It seems odd that he would come out and say what he said in such a manner without being told to do it.
As someone stated -
The top hole - the mouth - being larger than the bottom hole - the anus - means that the more that you eat the more gets held up between points a and b.
Its not rocket science.htljyukj