Colin Waine, chair of the UK's National Obesity Forum and visiting professor at Sunderland University, yesterdat addressed attendees at the Vitafoods International Conference in Geneva.
He said that the long-term problem of obesity in Europe has been driven largely by trends such as the heavily subsidised production of oils, fats and sugar, the heavy promotion of HFSS (high fat, sugar and salt) products, and the intense marketing of these products, especially when targeting children.
On the other hand, low priority is given to the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, such as eating fresh fruit and vegetables. Environmental and urban planning is based around car centres, with low priority given to activity friendly modes of transport like walking and cycling.
"There is a conflict between those who those who try to treat and prevent obesity and the vested interests of those who profit from our current obesogenic environment," he said. "I suggest that it is the responsibility of governments to seek to alter the balance in favour of those who seek to improve the nation's health."
He added: "We have not even begun to tackle the problem. Public relations measures are not enough."
There have been some concerted efforts to address the problem. Food companies have focused on reformulating products to make some ranges "less bad", the five-a-day fruit and veg message message has been widely communicated, and last month the first round of curbs on advertising high fat, sugar and salt foods to children was introduced in the UK.
Waine's talk was followed by a presentation by Martin Kussmann, head of functional genomics at the Nestle Research Center on the EU DIOGenes project. It involves 34 industry and academic partners in 14 countries, and aims to target obesity from a dietary perspective.
But Waine believes that more remains to be done, and unless more drastic measures are taken, obesity will pose severe constrains and an economic burden on overloaded health care systems, he said.
Obesity takes a decade off life, and there is incontrovertible evidence that it is a cause of 45 comorbidities. Besides cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes, it also plays a major role in the genesis of site-specific cancers.
By 2010 obesity rates in children will have grown by 28 per cent in the UK, affecting more than 6.4m youngsters, and one in four of them will be affected by metabolic syndrome.
By 2020, one-fifth of European health care budgets will be swallowed by the cost of treating type 2 diabetes and its complications, Waine said.
There is no disputing that obesity has reached epidemic proportions. According to the World Health Organisation, a disease becomes an epidemic when it affects more than 15 per cent of the population.
In some parts of Europe, more than 25 per cent of adults are considered obese according to the conventional body mass index measurement (a BMI of over 30 is considered obese) - although Waine considered visceral fat to be a more accurate measure.
He said obesity is particularly worrying in children. "Wherever you look, rates are rising dramatically," he said. "This will have an effect on future health and health care resources."
Waine said that there are other factors that have a bearing on the complex condition that is obesity.
These include a genetic make-up that is designed for a time when food was scarce, and physical demands for survival were high.
"It is a situation of stone age genes in 21st century society, where the environment is vastly different," he said. "Energy won't go away. If there is more going in than out, then the result is obesity."
Modern life in the Western world involves a plethora of energy rich foods, with exercise all but factored out - especially with the decline in manual occupations, increase in motor transport, more sedentary leisure pursuits, more consumption outside the home, and marketing of larger amounts.
Waine said that in the past, before the invention of many labour-saving devices, the average housewife expended the same energy in her weekly routine as she would running a marathon.
While stressing that he is not advocating a return to pre-women's lib days, he said that there are ways in which people today could increase their activity rates.
For instance, he stated that his office is located next to a school.
"Sometimes I think parents want to drive their 4x4s right into the classroom, not content with the school gate," he said. "The result is urban chaos."
