Thinking about the obesity problem - whether it is right to act to prevent/reduce, and if so, what is the right action.

1. Battling the bulge:
some immodest proposals
for tackling obesity
Stephen S Holden
www.halfamind2.com
24 Nov 2016

2. Food, glorious food !
2

3. Food, glorious food
"Any pleasure that does no harm
to other people is to be valued."
Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness, p.107
3

4. Food, glorious food !
4

5. 5
Is it right to act ?

6. “Good” for who ?
Self
– right way to live
• “flourishing”
“ethics”
Others
– right way to treat
others
• cooperation /
compassion
“morals”
6
“It is an ethical matter what colour you paint your house,
but it is not a moral matter” -- A.C. Grayling (2005)

7. Self-harm ?
7
Moderate obesity -3yrs |
Morbid obesity -10yrs | Smoking -
10 yrs
Peto et al. 2010 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1000079#t=article

8. Harm (costs) to others…
– obesity costs Australian taxpayers
>$5.3b/yr
• approximately $230/Australian
– obese more likely to
• go to doctors
• admitted to hospital
• be unemployed and therefore, pay less tax
8
Grattan Institute, http://grattan.edu.au/why-we-should-tax-sugary-soft-drinks/, 23
Nov 16

9. VanBaaletal.(2008)“Lifetimemedicalcostsofobesity:
Preventionnocureforincreasinghealthexpenditure”
Annual vs lifetime costs ?
9
- annual health-care costs are highest for
- obese people earlier in life (<56 yrs)
- smokers at older ages
- lifetime costs highest for
-same for obese and non-obese
- non-smokers !

10. Red herrings ?
• growth
• marketers seek
profits, wield
undue influence,
behave unethically
• consensus
• authority
10
Food for
thought…
or not ?

11. 11

12. 12
What is the
right action ?

13. 13
P1: do nothing !

14. Proportional
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obesity kills…
–2.8 million people / yr
http://easo.org/education-portal/obesity-facts-figures
malnutrition kills…
–3.1 million people / yr
https://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats
most under 5 yrs of age !

15. Effective actions
15
STRONG
Weak

16. 16

17. Secrets of the food industry
The Science of Addictive Food, CBC, March 6, 2013

18. Which one do you want ?
18

19. The “secret” of marketing
More
bigger
tastier, shinier,
brighter, etc.
Less
$
effort
time
19
Consumers want …
for

20. “Convenience”
20
less effort & / or less time
fast-food
medicines (Olestra), diets,
trainers/classes
motorised transport
remote controls
Google, streaming, online videos

21. Conflicting desires …
21

22. Hyperbolic discounting
« on est plus longtemps mort
que vivant »
22
« YOLO ! »

23. Marshmallow test

24. P2: sleep with the enemy
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25. Make it “look” bigger
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26. Make it “look” better
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Rolls, Roe, Meengs 2006

27. Make it “look” better
27
Rolls, Roe, Meengs 2006

28. Smaller plates
28
Holden et al 2016

29. “Looks” bigger
29Holden 2014 “Use your illusion”

30. 30

31. P3: fat tax
31

32. Consumers want an “out”
• “[Our culture] simultaneously incentivizes
people to gain weight and stigmatizes them
when they do”
• “…and then offers the bullshit promise of
instant weight loss through some miracle diet
or incredible exercise secret.”
32
http://www.vox.com/2015/7/7/8877041/losing-100-pounds

33. Fat tax
33
Fast food Fasting

34. Some immodest proposals
Do nothing !
………….
Sleep with the enemy
Fat tax
34

35. Battling the bulge:
some immodest proposals
for tackling obesity
Stephen S Holden
www.halfamind2.com
http://www.slideshare.net/StephenSHolden/