Weighty issue for a generation in which one in three is obese

In the first few weeks of the new year, it seemed that the entire nation was embarking on a mass diet. Everywhere you turned, there were experts – some qualified and some not – giving advice about calories, ‘correct’ food types and fat-burning exercise.

We are obsessed by weight, yet the irony is that as a nation, we have never been so fat and apart from the vanity aspect, being overweight or obese carries health risks.

Two thirds of adults are either overweight or obese, according to endocrinologist Dr Francis Finucane, who leads a team based at UHG, which is dedicated to providing a medical service for people from the West of Ireland who are overweight or obese.

With 23 per cent of us overweight and another 34 per cent ranked as obese, we are right up there with other developed nations, says Dr Finucane.

The endocrinologist, who trained as a physician at the Royal College of Surgeons before doing post graduate studies in TCD and Cambridge, has been in UHG since last September, heading up Galway University Hospitals’ bariatric medicine service which was set up by Professor Tim O’Brien, NUIG Professor of Medicine.

The service, which has a nurse specialist, a dietician, a surgeon and a psychologist as part of its multi-disciplinary teams, helps people for whom weight is causing serious health problems, such as cardiovascular problems, Type Two Diabetes or Obstructive Sleep Apnoea.

These clients are referred by other hospitals in the HSE West region or by General Practitioners. They are people who cannot lose weight by following the standard advice of eating less and exercising more. According to Dr Finucane, it can be harder to reduce weight than you might think, especially if you have a severe problem.

“People with a more severe problem may find it more difficult to come into a weight loss programme or instigate lifestyle changes.

“People might think they are doing well, but when you go through what they are buying, and eating and how much they are exercising, that might not be so. It’s very difficult to get a realistic idea of what people are doing.”

A person’s weight is measured using a technique known as Body Mass Index, which is “a relatively crude measure of excess fat, but the best we have”, according to Dr Finucane, who predicts that in the next five to 10 years the methods of measuring weight will become more sophisticated.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.