BBC doctor Chris van Tulleken, who appeared on Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday show, moved to tell viewers that being overweight or obese is not an person’s fault. The health expert and best-selling author, known for his own BBC shows such as What Are We Feeding Our Kids? and Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, was part of a discussion around Government plans to tackle obesity.
Plans shared by Health Secretary West Streeting include altering food advertising rules and providing weight-loss drugs to certain individuals, with these discussed earlier with Ms Kuenssberg.
Later in the show, she asked Dr Chris: “What do you think is the answer? Is there something much more radical to be done about obesity? What would be your advice? ” In response, the doctor expressed his full support for Mr Streeting, stating that he believes the plans will “make a big deal”.
He continued: “Our food environment is dominated by a small number of companies that sell us huge quantities of unhealthy food and we are the worst country for this in Europe, so when we talk about personal responsibility, we talk about weight gain and we have any element of blame in it, that totally misunderstands the problem. We have not all got greedier and lazier over the last 30 years, instead there has been a total failure to regulate the food companies who shape our environment.”
He then went on to say: “Ignore the ‘nanny state’ accusations, the public are desperate for help. We know this, everyone is on the health secretary’s side, people desperately want help.”
In his best-selling book Ultra Processed People, Dr Chris makes a case that “it is the ultra-processing, not the nutritional content, that’s the problem” in the obesity crisis. He put his theories to the test by embarking on an experiment where he subsisted on a diet consisting of at least 80% ultra processed foods for four weeks.
The outcomes were eye-opening – he piled on almost a stone and brain scans indicated he’d become chemically dependent on these foods, in a similar way to how people develop cigarette, alcohol and drug addictions.