Obesity+is+a+Capitalist+Disease

Name: Amanda Cole Student Number: 8291438 Tutor: Abbey-Rose Hamilton



**Cultural Artefact** This image depicts a young boy sitting down to dinner surrounded by images of various types of junk food including soft drink, crisps, cake, burgers and fries. The images appear to be part of his thoughts and he seems bored by his typical meat and 3 vegetable meal. Notably, the child is slightly overweight with thick arms and a rounded belly.

**Public health issue** //“...obese children experience breathing difficulties, increased risk of fractures, hypertension, early markers of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and psychological effects.”// (WHO, 2011). Obesity is a preventable disease which has become a global epidemic identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as being the fifth leading risk for global deaths (WHO, 2011). The proportion of overweight or obese adults in Australia has risen in consecutive years such that in 2007-2008, 61% of Australia’s adult population were classified as overweight or obese and 25% of Australian children aged 5-17 years old were classified as overweight or obese (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009). These alarming statistics are even more prevalent in people of low socio-economic status (O’Dea, 2003). Capitalism has served to compound this health issue creating a fast paced, consumer focussed, time poor society and promoting readily available, high fat, energy dense foods as a desired alternative to traditional home cooked, nutritious meals.

**Literature review** //“Put simply, there is a lot of money being made, and to be made, in feeding both oversized stomachs and feeding those enterprises selling fixes for oversized stomachs”// (Weis, 2006) Children of low socio-economic status (SES) are more likely to be obese than those of middle or high SES (O’Dea, 2003). O’Dea’s study measured the body mass index (BMI) of over 4000 students from 38 randomly selected schools, classed as low, middle or high SES based on parental income. The study found that children from low SES background had significantly higher BMI’s than middle and high SES children (O’Dea, 2003). The data was collected in late 2000 and used BMI as a determining factor which may underestimate fatness in children (Garnett, Baur, & Cowell, 2011), potential limitations to the study, but it suggests that low SES may be a significant factor in whether a child is overweight or obese.

Some studies have found that using BMI may not be a true indicator of fatness in children and instead use waist-to-height ratio to obtain central adiposity as this has been linked to metabolic and cardiovascular risk (Garnett et al., 2011; McCarthy & Ashwell, 2006). A waist to height ratio of 0.5 or more is proposed to indicate a risk to health due to excessive upper body fat accumulation (McCarthy & Ashwell, 2006). Between 1985 and 2007 the waist to height ratio above 0.5 increased from 8.6% in 1985 to 18.3% in 2007 (Garnett et al., 2011). This indicates that central adiposity is increasing in children with time. Garnett, et al. (2011) used data from three national data sets which increases the validity and credibility of their findings and also compares plateauing BMI scores to increasing waist-to-height ratios suggesting that childhood obesity remains a current public health issue despite the fact BMI scores have steadied.

The built environment is a determining factor of childhood obesity (Rahman, Cushing, & Jackson, 2011). Globalisation and capitalism has led to the design of homes, workplaces, schools, neighbourhoods, cities and transportation systems which impact on health outcomes (Rahman et al., 2011). A literature study by Rahman et al. (2011) found that access to high fat, energy dense foods and convenience stores increase the risk of overweight and obesity. Physical activity is also an important factor in determining obesity risk, this study found that neighbourhoods with bikepaths, footpaths, accessible destinations and mixed land use are associated with lower childhood BMI’s and overweight status (Rahman et al., 2011).

One feature of capitalism is the domination of private industry over public, in market share, profits and identity. Coca-cola is one of the most highly recognised and influential private corporations in the world (Saltman, 2004). However, Coca-Cola undermines the public sphere and threatens public health by aggressively pursuing children in school as potential new customers encouraging them to see themselves as consumers not citizens (Saltman, 2004). Saltman (2004) argues that children define themselves by their consumption choices rather than through their civic duty in a democratic society and that private companies such as Coca-cola thrive on this, constantly reinforcing the ideology that consuming Coca-Cola enhances your image.

There is also the so-called ‘business’ of obesity to consider, with many arguing that capitalism reinforces the obesity epidemic by conveying the public health issue as normal and unavoidable (Weis, 2006). It is undeniable that the financial opportunities for industries that promote weight gain are endless, such as Coca-Cola as mentioned above, fast food restaurants, technology that reduces our need to do anything for ourselves, but on the other hand there are a substantial amount of corporations that depend on obesity for financial gain, such as lap band surgery centres and weight loss programs (Weis, 2006). Weis (2006) argues that obesity will remain prevalent as long as it is normalised by the companies that seek to perpetuate profit from this industry.

These capitalist corporations drive their brand image through a plethora of advertising mediums, such as television, billboards, movies, music, cartoon figures and toys as well as more subtly as sponsors of sport, competitions, charity drives and so on. Food marketing has a significant impact on consumer choices and has been identified by WHO as a contributing factor to the obesity promoting environment (WHO, 2006). Kelly and her colleagues (2010) completed a study to compare television food advertising in several countries, classifying advertisements as either core, being nutrient dense, low energy foods and noncore, being foods high in energy and undesirable nutrients. They found noncore food advertisements accounted for 53-87% of the total food advertisements and that the rate of noncore food advertising was highest during children peak viewing times (Kelly et al., 2010). This means a child watching 2 hours of television per day is exposed to an average of 56 noncore food advertisements per week, a frequency which research has shown to correlate to childhood overweight and obesity (Lobstein, 2005).

**Cultural and social analysis** //"Class...assumes an independent existence as against the individuals, so that the latter find their conditions of life predetermined, and have their position in life and hence their personal development assigned to them by their class"// (Antonio, 2003) The rise in obesity is the result of past decades of societal, technical and idealogical change (Lang & Rayner, 2007). Modernity has brought with it an ability to better understand, predict and control the natural world, and therefore better healthcare, however it has also seen the manifestation of new epidemics, including obesity and widening inequalities (Hanlon, Carlisle, Hannah, Lyon, & Reilly, 2011). Hanlon et al. (2011) argue that the modern world is unsustainable and thus in danger of collapse and that public health needs a new approach to tackle this issue to navigate through this transition period. Hanlon and his colleagues (2011) propose change is only possible by re-integrating dimensions of life that modernity separated, for example the individual and the collective. Through integration, new and unfamiliar forms of thinking and practice will be developed and some of the most daunting public health problems of the modern world can be overcome (Hanlon et al., 2011).

From a Marxist perspective, obesity is due to the rise of capitalism and subsequent class divisions. Capitalist society is oriented to curing disease through medicine and technology without paying attention to the root cause of the disease which, ironically, is the environment created by capitalism (White, 1991). Health and healthcare is seen as the individual’s responsibility despite the fact society is structured in a way to promote unhealthy practices (White, 1991).

Food security is another point that must be considered from a social and cultural level to fully understand this issue. Food security can be defined as the physical and economic access to safe, nutritionally adequate and culturally relevant food which allow an individual to lead an active healthy life (Gallegos, 2011). Food insecurity can result in poor food choices, overweight and obesity (Ramsey, Giskes, Turrell, & Gallegos, 2011). There is currently only one study in Australia that focusses on the impact of food insecurity on health outcomes (Ramsey et al., 2011). This study indicates that food insecurity is associated with lower household income, poorer general health and increased healthcare utilisation (Ramsey et al., 2011). Studies also show that those who are food insecure are less likely to pay attention to education messages about health food consumption (Wahlqvist, 2011). Therefore, low SES groups are at a higher risk of becoming overweight or obese.

**Analysis of the artefact and personal learning reflections** //“Obesity is the manifestation of inappropriate societal structures framing what people eat and what they do”// (Lang & Rayner, 2007) Obesity is due to capitalism. It is because of capitalism that we have a small minority of private companies dominating a huge majority of market share, wealth and consumerism. These few companies play an instrumental role in the food choices of the whole population. Therefore, this young boy is craving the foods our society reinforces are the most desirable. The images can also be seen as a representation of the bombardment of advertising we are succumbed to every day. We can analyse, environment, fast paced lifestyles, individualistic cultural ideals, but it seems it all comes down to capitalism and the commercial world we live in that drives these obesity statistics skyward. Obesity is a business, countless companies are making their profits on the obesity industry. By normalising the idea of being overweight, they can reinforce the value of their product.

The health care system in Australia is built on the acceptance by society that we are responsible for our own health. But this is not correct; ingrained social structures determine our health including what we eat, when we eat and how much we eat. It doesn’t matter how many ‘eat healthy’ and scare campaigns linking early death to being overweight are promoted, none of these can compete with the all powerful capitalist modes of production which are private food companies that feed off the obesity industry and continue to discriminate by class.

**Learning engagement and reflection task**

__[|**n8291438**]__Yesterday 8:42 pm Ooh La La, Did you see that'- How equitable is the playing field when it comes to women's sport I enjoyed reading your wiki! I especially liked how you linked the public health issue of women participating in sport and exercising and how the lack of role models and TV air time may impact these statistics. In my teenage-early adult years I played beach volleyball at a reasonably high level; we had severe restrictions on what we could and couldn't wear in competition - basically consisting of a small bikini, there was even regulation on the width of the piece of cloth around the chest and hips! On the other hand, men were allowed to wear baggy, long shorts and loose fitting singlets. The sexploitation of women's sport is undeniable and the fact that women such as Venus William's, an elite sportswoman at the top of her sport, have to dress in apparent lingerie to gain media attention is a sign of how messed up our society really is.

Thanks for a thought provoking read.

__[|**n8291438**]__Yesterday 9:08 pm A review of alcohol related violence and prevention strategies in remote Indigenous communities Thanks for an informative and well-researched wiki read. There are so many parts of 'The Intervention' that can be focussed on, I like that you have focussed specifically on the alcohol issue, it's possible roots, ties to other indigenous populations and significant statistics. I have also travelled to NT and was extremely embarrassed by the signage, especially as I was travelling with 2 British citizens and 1 South African citizen who were all appalled at 'The Intervention' and even more amazed of the little media coverage it had received. After spending a night or two out in Fortitude Valley, I wonder whether the alcohol consumption and it's related violence is worthy of a similar intervention? And if such an intervention were to be placed on non-Indigenous people regarding their right to purchase alcohol, for example, one can only wonder at the uproar this would cause. There are some inexcusable double standards that exist within Australia and I agree with you, I think the current 'solutions' are not closing the gap; a new approach is definitely needed.

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Gallegos, D. (2011). Social approaches to understanding food, eating and nutrition. In M. Wahlqvist (Ed.), //Food & Nutrition: food and health systems in Australia and New Zealand// (pp. 21-35). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Garnett, S., Baur, L., & Cowell, C. (2011). The prevalence of increased central adiposity in Australian school children 1985 to 2007. //Obesity Reviews, 12//(11), 887-896.

Hanlon, P., Carlisle, S., Hannah, M., Lyon, A., & Reilly, D. (2011). Learning our way into the future public health: a proposition. //Journal of Public Health, 33//(3), 335-342.

Kelly, B., Halford, J., Boyland, E., Chapman, K., Bautista-Castano, I., Berg, C...Serra-Majem, L. (2010). Television food advertising to children: a global perspective.

O’Dea, J. (2003). Differences in overweight and obesity among Australian schoolchildren of low and middle/high socioeconomic status. //The Medical Journal of Australia, 179//(1), 63.

Lobstein, T. (2005). Evidence of a possible link between obesogenic food advertising and child overweight. //Obesity Reviews, 6//(3), 203-208//.//

McCarthy, H., & Ashwell, M. (2006). A study of central fatness using waist-to-height ratios in UK children and adolescents over two decades supports the simple message - ‘keep your waist circumference to less than half your height. //International Journal of Obesity, 30//(6), 988-992.

Rahman, T., Cushing, R., & Jackson, R. (2011). Contributions of built environment to childhood obesity. //Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, 78//(1), 49-57.

Ramsey, R., Giskes, K., Turrell, G., & Gallegos, D. (2011). Food insecurity among adults residing in disadvantaged urban areas: potential health and dietary consequences. //Public Health Nutrition,// in press. Epub ahead of print retrieved October 19, 2011, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21899791.

Saltman, K. (2004). Coca-Cola’s global lessons: from education for corporate globalization to education for global justice. //Teacher Education Quarterly, 31//(1), 155-172.

Wahlqvist, M. (2011). Food security, nutrition in transition and sustainable environments. In M. Wahlqvist (Ed.) //Food & Nutrition: food and health systems in Australia and New Zealand// (pp. 59-79). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Weis, W. (2006). When the forces of industry conflict with the public health: the case of obesity. //Academy of Health Care Management Journal, 2//, 1-10.

White, K. (1991). Marxist approaches to the Sociology of Health. //Current Sociology, 39//(2) 23-49.

World Health Organization (2006). //Marketing of food and non-alcoholic beverages to children.// Retrieved from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/Oslo%20meeting%20layout%2027%20NOVEMBER.pdf.

World Health Organization. (2011). //Obesity and overweight.// Retrieved from [|__http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/index.html__].