Author, obesity researcher .

Girls who start slimming aged 10 – 3.11.09

This was a worrying study done by GirlGuiding UK (involving 1,109 girls) about how young girls feel about their bodies and size. They found that girls as young as 10 are worried about their weight and half of teenagers would consider surgery to change their appearance. This is such a sad indictment about the state [...]

Read more »

NHS Slimming operations have doubled in one year – 10.10.2009

Official figures show that there were 4,619 bariatric surgery operations in England in 2008 – a 51% increase on the previous year. The official NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) guidelines state that anyone with a BMI of 40 or higher qualifies for ‘bariatric’ surgery. That’s 1.2 million people in the UK who already qualify [...]

Read more »

Slimming Drug Investigated over Liver Damage Claim – Western Mail 26.08.09

GlaxoSmithKline are the makers of the weight loss pill “Orlistat” (known as “Xenical” on prescription or “Alli”, now available over the counter). This article noted that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing 30 reports of serious liver damage, in people who have been taking the drug, 6 of which resulted in organ [...]

Read more »

40 years of diets and we’re fatter than ever – Daily Mail 23.07.09

Sally Ann Voak is the author of 28 diet books and this is, therefore, billed as a ’startling confession’. It is quite cynical, from someone who has made ’slimming’ her profession since 1971. It concludes: “The problem is that the diet industry doesn’t really want women to be slim, because if we were all a [...]

Read more »

We’ll pay you to lose weight.

Daily Mail. November 11, 2008: “We’ll pay the obese to take a walk.” News of the World. April 12, 2009: “Lards of Money: NHS paying fatties £425 to lose weight.” Daily Mail. July 3, 2009: “Lose weight and we’ll give you £1 for every pound.” (Don’t you just love the NOTW headline!) This story just [...]

Read more »