Education Freestyle

Source: TIME

Obesity is no longer just an American problem, it’s spreading across the pond and, over the past two decades, Europe’s waistlines have been widening, according to new reports.

In fact, from 1990 to 2006, obesity levels in Europe tripled on the whole, according to statistics from the World Health Organization. Although they’ve yet to catch up with the 32% obesity rate in the U.S., Europeans have nothing to be complacent about. In Italy, nearly 10% of people are considered obese, and in the U.K. that figure is over 24%, according to the latest WHO figures from 2006.

Faced with such alarming statistics, the European Union is now mulling drastic changes to the way food products are labeled in an attempt to battle the bloc’s growing bulge. The most controversial of the proposals so far is a flashy label backed by health and consumer groups that’s based on the colors of a traffic light. Already fixtures in many British supermarkets, the labels use red, yellow and green circles to indicate how healthy products are in four categories: fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. If a box of cookies is high in sugar, for instance, it’ll get a red light.

Food and drink companies are opposed to this approach and prefer to maintain the status quo — requiring only the calorie content to be displayed on the front of packages, with nutritional information listed on the back. The European Parliament is expected to vote on the issue in May or June. 

Food labels are a big issue in the U.S. at the moment, too. Earlier this month, a lobbying group called the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) issued a report calling on the U.S. government to require food and drink companies to summarize nutritional information on the fronts of packages with “easy to comprehend” symbols. First Lady Michelle Obama, who has made tackling childhood obesity one of her key goals, also said recently that she’d like to see food companies start using more customer-friendly labels “so parents won’t have to spend hours squinting at words that they can’t pronounce to figure out whether the foods that they’re buying are healthy or not.”

Advocates of the traffic light proposal in Europe insist that prominent, mandatory labeling is the most effective way to inform consumers. They are backed by a growing body of research. One study from earlier this year found that just 17% of European shoppers look for nutritional information when they buy food. Another study in France showed that although 75% of consumers there say they are interested in nutrition, a full 84% of people could not explain what a carbohydrate is. And another study conducted in Australia last year indicated that people were five times more likely to identify healthy food options when they see color-coded nutrition labels.

Dave McCullough, a spokesman for the European Consumers’ Organization BEUC, says that on average, Europeans have about a half hour each week to do all their food shopping. “The fact is that a lot of people do not have time to make decisions on what they are buying,” he says. “A housewife out with her three kids wants to make a quick decision while rushing through the supermarket aisles and does not have time for detailed comparison. When we clearly have an obesity epidemic spreading across Europe, and when consumers clearly want to make healthier choices about their diet, we really should give them the tools that work best and which they want.”

Linda McAvan, a member of the European Parliament from Britain’s Labor Party and a supporter of the color-coded food labels, echoes that sentiment. “There is evidence that consumer pressure generated through the traffic light scheme can lead to product reformulation by retailers,” she says. “One major retailer told me how their least healthy sandwich range was phased out when labeling was introduced, as people stopped buying the high fat and salt options.” 

But the powerful food and drink lobbies and their allies in the European Parliament aren’t quite so sure. Renate Sommer, a parliamentarian from Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party, favors limiting front-of-package labeling to calorie content information and allowing food companies to decide how much nutritional content they wish to list on the back. “It would be wrong to overload consumers, otherwise you would need a calculator to work out your diet,” she says. “The more you label, the less people read. The U.S. has more and more food labeling but obesity rates keep rising. We should learn from their mistakes.”

The CIAA, the European food and drink industry body, also believes the voluntary back-of-package guideline daily amount (GDAs) labels are good enough. “While there is no silver bullet to tackling obesity, we are already doing a lot,” says Mella Frewen, the head of the group. “Issues such as obesity require a complex mix of solutions. We need a more coherent approach covering a multitude of factors, like education, physical activity, portion size and frequency of consumption.” Frewen also contends the traffic light proposal is too subjective.

“It makes a blanket judgment about foodstuffs and suggests that there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ choices which can be applied to everyone. This is not the case. Consumers have different dietary needs,” she says.

Traffic light opponents may have gotten the upper hand on Tuesday when a European Parliament committee recommended backing the simpler front-of-package labels that list only calorie counts. But with a couple of months to go in the debate, health activists say there’s a chance the multi-colored labels could still get the green light.

______________________________________

My Take: Here’s the deal: You don’t need a calculator to tell you that the piece of chocolate cake or that double cheeseburger you just woofed down are going do some damage to your diet for the day. Counting calories is a simple and straightforward approach to weight management and, when coupled with some sensible exercising routine and founded on food groups with green leafy veggies and fruits at the top end, the rates of successfully keeping weight under control are more likely to be positive.

Smoking is one of the leading factors of heart disease, and combined with obesity it’s a downright health hazard, if you ask me. I’ve long-advocated for required health checks for the insured and, for those who do smoke, I think they should be given free prescriptions for 90 days to buy electronic cigarettes as a way to possibly begin to wean themselves off the nicotine. I’m not suggesting the electronic cigarette is a sure-fire way to get someone to quit, I’m saying it may help some kick the habit sooner rather than later. And, those who are overweight and proven to sustain themselves on a diet of drive-thru junk should be penalized somehow for not taking responsibility for their own health management.

There’s a reason shy seeing a Tallahassee Fl plastic surgeon is not part of the standard benefit in most company sponsored health care plans. HMOs don’t want to pay for something like Destin FL breast implants or face lifts because they are considered cosmetic. Maybe they should consider managing the smokers and junk food eaters more effectively through limiting benefits until lifestyle changes are made. I know this idea is about as popular as getting the doctor’s phone answering service in an emergency, but it makes sense. Some elected officials have back the idea, and I’m sure they got some pretty nasty messages for it on their answering service , but the fact is, people need to take responsibility for their health. Counting calories is a good start, and so is monitoring the sugars and carbs inside the food you buy before you buy it.

——————————————————

Other Resources

Spa Indulgence

Not everyone can experience a Lebanon day spa salon on a daily basis, but many can at least get a couple of hours a week. What you can do is try one of the massages offered or pamper yourself with a therapeutic bath or shower at your Lebanon beauty spa. If you have more time, you can go a bit further and sign yourself up for a stay-in program over a couple of days. Don’t procrastinate, read through whatever interests you and then get on the phone and call one of your local spas. At least you get in some personal time.