

Government intervention

The nanny state’s biggest test

Should governments make their citizens exercise more and eat less?

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Readers' comments



Dr Swinburn said that "--- is there is no single policy recommendation that can tell me how I should behave"
My brother David came to see us today, he struggles to get up our stairs he is so obese, I am very concerned.
I said if you were in an accident and lost an arm it would be the same as never getting pleasure from eating cheese, drinking fizzy drinks, eating crisps and chocolate.
So if he were to give up these he would loose weight just as God forbid if he lost an arm.
Andrew Cameron, Canvey Island, Essex

Amor Maclang

What issues does it post to other health risks as smoking, etc. ? I admire Bloomberg, etc but he must find a way to work and engage stakeholders and communicate with them in a manner that doesn't always feel like a bull in a china shop. What's your leadership communications style?

Amor Maclang



Why is the solution to every problem a tax Economist? Junk food? how is a bake potato with butter and salt different than potato chips? By the way the potato is a simple starch compose of guess what sugars- glucose. Your stomach rapidly breaks it down to glucose molecules giving you a sugar kick. How is that different than a large soda? I'm a chemist and could go on forever about the stupidity here.

Unqualified Critic

Wow! It was a good article until they pooh-poohed the impact of corn subsidies, because of this paper by a Bradly Ricards. First off corn is omni-present in just about everybody's diet. I challenge you to look at all the foods you eat and eliminate corn. You'd be surprised how hard it is. You think ok I'll just eliminate cereal, soda and potato chips and I'm golden, right... Most meat and dairy products come from animals who 'feast' primarily on a diet of corn. You'd say it doesn't count, but you are in fact what you eat and beef, chicken, pork, and milk are all essentially modified corn. The vast majority of candy has a primary ingedient of corn sugar or more properly stated, high fructose corn syrup. So given all these items which are directly affected by the price of corn for their inputs, how would ending the subsidy only be a 'drop in the bucket'? I say end the corn subsidy and given it to produce farmers.
Second nowhere in this section have they bothered to address the effects of genetical modified grains, like wheat, on the body. I don't know specific science, but it sounds like they've identified a very deterimental effect that the modified wheat has on the body. With the way the starches have been modified your body takes that wheat and instantly converts into fat for storage. Farmers complain that they can't go back to way wheat because its not profitable and they might not even have access to original strains.




Unqualified Critic in reply to ZCoboXMHyL

I was your typical American child. I can remember growing up and wanting macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pancakes for supper, etc... It wasn't until I was 14 and was exposed to walleye that I had fish that wasn't fish-sticks. Which I hated fish-sticks, and the only reason I tried the walleye was to avoid embaressment and the hands of my peers. I consider that moment a watershed in my tastebuds and what I consider to be good.
Today I enjoy pairing a good Iowa steak with a rich Argentinian Malbec or a mild Asiago with a Californian Sav Blanc. So I think taste can be learned when older and more accurately probably evolves with age. Case point, do you still eat the same candy today that you did when you were young. Even if you do, I bet your appriciation and rate of consumption have changed. I do agree that taste is learned and that the wider your palate at a young age the better it evolves as you get older.


What will bring obesity rates down is mortality and economics.
Eliminate any Medicare / Medicaid etc. payments for the obese.
Those on life support will no longer trouble the system. Those who worry about their health insurance will suddenly have great incentive to lose weight.


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