Tue, May-19-20, 02:26
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Plan: Muscle Centric
Stats: 238/153/160
BF:
Progress: 109%
Location: UK
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Quote:
'Public health revolution' needed to combat 'root cause' of Covid-19 deaths
Matt Hancock asks leading anti-obesity expert to advise on links between obesity and the coronavirus to help form Government policy
Health Secretary Matt Hancock needs to launch a "public health revolution" to combat metabolic syndrome - a root cause of so many people in the UK dying from Covid-19, according to a leading anti-obesity expert.
Dr Aseem Malhotra, a London-based cardiologist who the Health Secretary asked to advise him on the links between ill health, obesity and the coronavirus, has written to Mr Hancock saying there is a "huge lack of awareness" among the public and scientific community about the role poor metabolic health is playing in the pandemic. It is also "likely" to be the most significant factor as to why those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are disproportionately affected by Covid-19, he said.
Metabolic syndrome is the medical term for a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. It affects an estimated 1 in 3 older adults aged 50 or above in the UK and puts those affected at greater risk of getting coronary heart disease, stroke and other conditions that affect the blood vessels. These adverse risk markers are at least twice as prevalent in ethnic minorities: approximately 20 per cent of Caucasians of normal weight are metabolically unhealthy versus 43.6 per cent of south Asians.
"Metabolic syndrome, driven by excess body fat as a root cause is a much bigger problem than obesity," Dr Maholtra writes in his letter to Mr Hancock. "Data from around the world especially in the United States and UK have shown an increased risk between being obese, having a BMI [Body Mass Index] over 30 and both hospital admission and risk of death from Covid-19.
"But what is missing, which I would describe as the elephant in the room, is that a significant proportion of the population have excess body fat being both overweight and of normal BMI. It's estimated that 80 per cent of UK adults are overfat. This is directly linked to the metabolic syndrome that the CDC [US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has stated may increase risk of dying from Covid-19 by 10 fold."
Overfat refers to an excessive amount of body fat in various areas that can impair health and even applies to individuals who, according to the BMI scale, could be considered of "normal" weight.
"There is a huge lack of awareness of this amongst the public health and scientific community," Dr Malhotra wrote. "I am therefore very concerned that metabolic health is not being properly measured."
Recommendations
Dr Malhotra calls for several new dietary and lifestyle policies to reduce metabolic syndrome, such as: increasing the price of ultra processed food food through a levy or tax and use the money to subsidise healthier foods; ban advertising of all ultra-processed food and drink, including banning the sale of such items in hospitals; and the launch of a public education campaign that such foods are toxic to health and their consumption should be avoided/minimised as much as possible.
"In no circumstances should whole foods or essential macronutrients be taxed. That means no to a meat tax and no to a fat tax," he told i. "We should also ensure that diet guidelines are made by independent experts and scientists with no institutional or financial links to the food industry. That means ditching the current eat well guide that as one eminent obesity researcher has described as being created for food industry wealth, not health.
"This could have a profound effect on population health within a few years and change the course of our nation's health forever. In my view there’s no better time politically to start a public health revolution.
Mr Hancock replied to Dr Malhotra on Monday thanking him for the advice and saying he wanted to use it to help support the Government's work on tackling obesity.
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https://inews.co.uk/news/health/cor...-deaths-2857159 |
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