September 2012 Street Talks by Ian Roberts, author of The Energy Glut. Brought to you by Movement for Liveable London - movementforliveablelondon.com

1. Energy Glut
Ian Roberts

5. Prevalence of adult obesity in England by gender 1993-2005

7. “The degree of thinness
exhibited by models chosen
to promote products is both
unachievable and
biologically inappropriate.
The gap between the ideal
body shape and the reality is
wider than ever.”
British Medical Association Vivian Nathanson called for action.

8. Trends in waist circumference for women
in the USA 1988-94 and 1999-2000
YEAR 5th percentile 10th percentile
1988-1994 68.0 70.7
1999-2000 70.5 73.3
Ford et al. Obesity Research (2003) 11, 1223–1231

9. We are all fat and
getting fatter

10. Heart deaths and BMI in never smokers
16
8
4
2
1
0·5
15 20 25 30 35 40 50
Baseline BMI (kg/m2)
Adjusted for age, sex and study; 1st 5 years of follow-up excluded Lancet 2009; 373: 1083-96

14. Change 4 Life
“the way we live in modern society means a
lot of us, especially our kids, have fallen into
unhelpful habits.”
“the government is trying to create a lifestyle
revolution on a huge scale - something which
no Government has attempted before.”
Dawn Primarolo
Public Health Minister

15. Something is happening
It affects us all
It is not our genes
It is not our bad habbits

16. Prentice A, Jebb SA. BMJ 1995;311:437-439 (12 August)
Education and debate
Obesity in Britain: gluttony or sloth?
The prevalence of clinical obesity in Britain has doubled in the
past decade. It is generally assumed that ready access to highly
palatable foods induces excess consumption and that obesity is
caused by simple gluttony. There is evidence that a high fat diet
does override normal satiety mechanisms. However, average
recorded energy intake in Britain has declined substantially
as obesity rates have escalated. The implication is that levels
of physical activity, and hence energy needs, have declined
even faster. Evidence suggests that modern inactive lifestyles
are at least as important as diet in the etiology of obesity and
possibly represent the dominant factor.

17. 17

18. Model T Ford
18

19. Cars replace trams
19

20. Exodus to suburbia
20

21. Car dependent suburbs
21

22. 22

23. 23

24. 24

25. 25

26. Body mass index in men and motor gasoline consumption (130 countries, 2005)
35
Average body mass index (kg/m2)
25 20 30
0 2 4 6 8
Motor gasoline consumption (logarithm of litres per capita)

27. Cars are making us fat
But how?

28. The Road to Obesity or the Path to Prevention:
Motorized Transportation and Obesity in China
A.Colin Bell,* Keyou Ge,† and Barry M. Popkin*
Obesity Research (2002) 10, 277–283

35. Environmental risk factors
______________________________________________________________________
Variable Adjusted OR (95%CI)
______________________________________________________________________
Traffic volume (vehicles/hr)
<250 1.00
250-499 4.52 (2.04 to 9.98)
500-749 7.29 (3.09 to 17.20)
>=750 14.30 (6.98 to 29.20)
Mean speed (km/hr)
<40 1.00
40-49 2.68 (1.26 to 5.69)

36. Miles travelled by car & motorcycle and pedestrian & cyclist deaths (USA)

37. What about food?

45. Health impacts UK
Change in disease burden Change in premature
deaths
Ischaemic heart
10-19% 1950-4240
disease
Cerebovascular
10-18% 1190-2580
disease
Dementia 7-8% 200-240
Breast cancer 12-13% 200-210
Road traffic crashes 19-39% 50-80