Last month, the Ontario Medical Association released a landmark report that recommended applying some of the lessons learned from anti-tobacco campaigns over the past 20 years to our increasing societal obesity crisis. There has been a healthy public debate since then, but it seems that some folks have missed our point.
Ontario’s doctors are not saying you can’t have a piece of pizza and a pop from time to time. But these foods shouldn’t be consumed daily. Sadly, there’s ample evidence that too many people are doing just that.
Ontario’s doctors aren’t making this up. The fact remains that over one-third of our children are overweight or obese in Canada, as are over 60 percent of the adults in Ontario.
Clearly, despite the best efforts of many, governments, dieticians, and doctors, the measures currently in place haven’t made enough of an impact to slow this epidemic down. More work needs to be done. Despite what some suggest, we can’t just ignore obesity, and wish it away.
So we rolled up our sleeves, conducted more research and put forward bold and aggressive new recommendations — this time focusing squarely on food. Our intent was not to invade the kitchens of families or dictate what people eat. But rather to get people talking again about a serious health issue that is too often pushed aside.
We looked at the numerous successful anti-tobacco initiatives implemented over the past 20 years that have made young people think twice about starting to smoke and helped reduce smoking rates in Ontario by over 30 percent.
It’s apparent that we need to show the same resolve and commitment that was used to drive down tobacco use and apply those efforts to tackling obesity rates. And we need to apply the lessons learned from those anti-tobacco initiatives to the fight against obesity.
Increasing taxes on junk food or placing graphic warning labels on certain food products will not solve this problem alone, but we believe these measures will help if they’re combined with comprehensive strategy. Given that no state, province or jurisdiction has yet discovered a way to turn around the rising rates of obesity, we believe some new thinking is needed.
If there are other ideas or suggestions out there, then let’s hear them. But dismissing the ideas that Ontario’s doctors have put forward by suggesting that they are not evidenced based in simply wrong.
As a child psychiatrist, I see the impact obesity or being overweight has through the eyes of the children who come through my office every day. The time for action is now. We need to fight this problem with aggressive new tactics if we want to have any chance of reducing obesity rates and preventing thousands of preventable illnesses every year.
To those who have been critical of our approach, and suggested our ideas are wrong-headed — you missed the point. Tackling this problem requires all of us to be working towards the same goal. Get active in your communities by speaking up for healthy food choices, and teach your children about the impact their everyday food choices have on their health. Doing nothing is the only option that guarantees the problem will continue to get worse.
— Weir is President of the Ontario Medical Association