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Friday, January 9, 2009

Warning Labels on Plus-Sized Clothing?

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A professor in the UK argues that clothing labels, on sizes 16 and up, should include obesity help line numbers. This is intended to help curb the high rate of obesity in the UK that is consuming their health care resources and government spending. Here is the article, found on wptz.com.

U.K. Professor Wants Government To Fight Obesity

"A leading professor in the U.K. said that obese people should be warned about the health risks of their weight when buying clothes, according to The Daily Mail.

Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said that oversized clothing should have obesity help line numbers sewn on them to try to reduce Britain's obesity crisis.

The professor made the recommendations in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal.

Sir George Albert, the U.K.'s national director for emergency care, joined other health professionals in their recommendations. He wants the government to take a more proactive response to obesity.

The suggestion would be to put the label on all clothes with waist sizes over 37 inches for boys or 31 inches for girls. Women's clothes over size 16 would also get a label.

The paper reported that Sattar also believes new urban roads should only be built if they include a separate lane for bicyclists.The professor also said that new housing complexes should all include sports facilities and park areas.

Britain's obesity problem could bankrupt its health system if nothing is done to stop it, according to Sattar. The British Medical Journal reported that more than half of the U.K.'s population is overweight and more than one in five adults is obese.

Treating obese people in that country takes up about 9 percent of the health budget, the Mail reported.

Sattar thinks there should be more political intervention. He told the journal that he also wants food manufacturers to display nutrition information on the content of all meals and snacks at retail and catering outlets.

"People clearly have some responsibility for their health, but society and government have a responsibility to make the preferred, easy choices healthier ones," Sattar said.

Sattar said in the journal that education should be provided at all levels to change behavior towards diet and physical activity, and obesity made a core part of all medical training, according to a press release."

My Opinion:

Shopping for clothing can already be hard enough on a person’s self esteem. Embarrassing and degrading women further is not a good way to cut down on health care costs. In fact, this may actually increase health costs for prescription drugs which these women may feel are necessary to live a happier life.

In addition, the article says that obese people use up 9% of their health care budget. But I think that this is not a high enough number to call for radical change. Maybe the government should be more concerned with curbing violence, car accidents, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and so on.

Notice in this article there is no mention of anorexia help line numbers on sizes extra small and lower. This professor is not concerned with health issues or costs, but is actually concerned that UK women should try harder to look like fake supermodels.

Discussion: What do you think about this proposal? Will it help or hinder health issues?

This video is related to this post. It's a Dove commercial from their real beauty campaign.


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