It's January and Operation Transformation is back on RTÉ television and radio. Kathryn Thomas and the team of experts get to dress in chic outfits and look great. On the TV website the five leaders wear tight-fitting Lycra shorts and skimpy vests: the most unflattering clothes possible for overweight and unfit people. The cringe-inducing programme is portrayed by RTÉ as being about the nation's health when it is just another reality TV show designed to entertain.
Obesity levels will not decrease because of Operation Transformation. Advice-giving programmes, no matter how entertaining, have little or no effect on the health behaviour of the population as a whole. They do not work, and have been shown not to work since the World Health Organisation published the Ottawa Charter in 1986.
Safefood, the Government-supported, all-Ireland body, set up to provide “independent scientific advice” on nutrition, must know these programmes are not effective, so why is it the main sponsor?
Television and radio shows focused on individual lifestyles will not fix the obesity problem and may even make things worse. They perpetuate the belief that everyone needs a dietitian, a personal trainer and psychological help in order to bring about behavioural change. In fact, 90 per cent of people change their health habits without any professional expertise, access to a gym or specialised advice. Anyone can change; they just need to eat a little less and move a bit more. Viewers who are a little overweight will look at the leaders and think that at least they, the viewers, are not that fat or unfit and put off changing their habits for another while.
The programme may also increase health inequalities. While the dinners sound appetising, such as "grapefruit and tarragon chicken" and "curry coconut fish parcel", families on low incomes will be unable to afford the ingredients. The cost of the "Week 3" dinner for at least two people in one of the cheaper Galway supermarkets came to €86.38. And that is just the dinners. The Operation Transformation breakfasts and lunches such as "cinnamon and yogurt pancakes" and "Aoife's sunshine salad" also look and sound great but they are not cheap.
Yes, Ireland has an obesity problem. Research predicts that we will be the fattest and most unfit people in Europe by 2020. The fundamental cause is that eating habits have changed dramatically in the past 70 years.
When the first National Nutrition Survey was carried out between 1948 and 1952 Irish families ate fresh home-prepared foods almost exclusively. The survey found that the only pre-packaged foods available in most shops were biscuits, canned or bottled fruit and veg, and canned meat or fish. Poor families ate “bread and spread (butter/margarine)” for breakfast and tea, and had cooked dinners of potatoes, meat and occasionally fish. Monotonous maybe, but at that time obesity was the exception rather than the rule.
While no one wants to go back to such an uninteresting and meagre diet, there is no doubt that it is much easier nowadays to buy cheap, energy-dense, nutrient-poor food. The availability of these foods needs to be tackled by Government through public policies such as fat and sugar taxes, a living wage, and a ban on misleading food advertising.
If RTÉ wants to contribute to population health and not just entertain, it must produce programmes that expose the determinants of obesity. Documentaries on the effectiveness of fat and sugar taxes to change behaviour would be helpful. Regular programmes about how to develop a healthy scepticism about food advertising and labelling would also be worthwhile. Bad planning contributes to obesity so why not inspect housing estates to show how difficult, and even dangerous, it can be for residents to go for a walk?
Many schools operate breakfast clubs and parents would appreciate an ongoing analysis of the quality and nutritional content of the food (sugary cereals and white bread) on offer. How about an alternative Operation Transformation to help communities change their environments so that healthier choices are easier choices?
In fact, why does RTÉ not take the same approach to obesity as it does to childcare, and residential facilities for older people and those with intellectual disabilities?
Most viewers would agree that these programmes have brought about changes in services for people who cannot speak up for themselves. Obesity and low levels of physical activity need the same in-depth analysis. The superficial approach taken by Operation Transformation will not help anyone, least of all low-income families who, because of poverty, are more likely to be obese and unfit than anybody else.
drjackyjones@gmail.com Dr Jacky Jones is a former HSE regional manager of health promotion and a member of the Healthy Ireland council.
RTÉ have since responded to this article. You can read it here.