"FATNESS PHOBIA" among teenage Irish girls was yesterday described by a nutritional expert as a far greater threat to health than excess weight.
Addressing the 8th European Congress on Obesity in Trinity College Dublin, Dr Mary Flynn, lecturer in nutrition and dietetics at the Dublin Institute of Technology, said that teenage girls perceived themselves to be far fatter than they really were. More than one in 10 of them were engaging in bulimic practices in attempts to control their weight.
More than 1,000 scientists and doctors from all over Europe are attending the conference.
Dr Flynn is involved in a team investigating Irish teenage girls perception of their weight and how this influences the assessment of dietary intakes.
She pointed out that the average female gained 40 per cent of her total body weight during adolescence. "While growing, there is a propensity to put on weight, and dietary restraints could interfere with that growth process. Girls who perceive that meat is fattening and refuse to eat it reduce their iron stores, and, similarly with milk, the calcium stores are reduced, which can be a real problem in later life because of osteoporosis and anaemia."
Speaking about childhood obesity, Dr Flynn said that it was important to identify children who were developing obesity at an early stage and then intervene. While there were no statistics on childhood obesity in Ireland, the problem had reached epidemic proportions in the United States.
Much of the blame for this had to be placed on decreased physical activity. "Children are watching more and more television and playing computer games. Preliminary EU data presented at the conference showed that the most obese children watched television for a significantly longer number of hours. The best thing to protect a child's health is to ensure they engage in physical activity", Dr Flynn said.
Dr Gerald Tonkin, consultant endocrinologist at the Meath and Adelaide Hospitals in Dublin, warned that there was a rising incidence of diabetes and said that this would become an epidemic by the year 2010.
People who gained more than 15kg in weight in their middle years had a 15 fold increase in the risk of developing diabetes, he said. Heart attacks were five times more common in diabetic patients.
"Obesity has major health implications in that it increases a person's risk of developing diabetes and is often associated with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, leading to heart disease. Certain cancers, gall bladder disease and osteoarthritis are also more common", Dr Tonkin said.
7
Thousands grieve at funeral services for two police officers murdered by IRA
Killings a "slap in the face" for peace-makers
Moderator says atrocity marks a watershed for North
By GERRY MORIARTY
LISBURN
THOSE who had taken risks for peace were struck a "slap in the face" by the IRA murder of RUC constables David Johnston and John Graham, the Presbyterian Moderator, the Rev Dr Sam Hutchinson, told several hundred mourners in Lisburn yesterday.
Dr Hutchinson, speaking at the funeral of Constable David Johnston, was highly critical of Sinn Fein politicians who refused to condemn the murders. He urged loyalist paramilitaries not to respond with their own "counter-atrocities".
The chief mourners were Constable Johnston's wife, Angie, and two sons, Louie (7) and Joshua (3). The large group of police mourners was led by the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan. High-ranking members of the Garda Siochana were also present.
Among the politicians at the funeral were the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley; the Alliance Party deputy leader, Mr Seamus Close, and Ulster Democratic Party representatives Mr Gary McMichael and Mr David Adams.
Dr Hutchinson said a happy family was devastated by "cynical godfathers and callous gunmen".
"With these murders Northern Ireland has passed a watershed, one of those critical points after which things can never be the same again. These killings were a slap in the face for so many people of goodwill who were trying to promote understanding and take risks for peace.
"There were of course many who had doubts from the beginning whether much would be achieved by talking to Sinn Fein, but there were honourable people who were willing to try, lest any chance for peace might be missed.
"Now at least some of them feel that they were slightly used, that their good nature was cynically exploited and that they're now abandoned to the reproach of those who would say, "we told you so". Over the last day or two I've detected a change of mood among some who have been rebuffed in this way, and who are likely to be more cautious in the future."
Dr Hutchinson said it was now time for those in authority to face reality. "You have spent time and effort trying to bring the extremists in from the cold, and some had hopes and dreams of what might he. In the cold light of this sad morning those dreams lie shattered."
He said it was time to listen to the silent majority.
"They have suffered so much for so long that they are now in despondency, if not in despair, feeling that their voice isn't really heard or listened to. It's time for them to be reassured that their concerns are being taken seriously, that the spotlight will now he on them and not on the paramilitaries and their associates."
He said if there were a ray of hope it lay in the chorus of condemnation, "though it's shocking that there are still some here who can't bring themselves to condemn a crime so foul and heinous as this one".
"To them I can only say that the world now sees what you really stand for, and I can but hope than no ill-advised counter-atrocity will let you escape the odium that is rightly yours," Dr Hutchinson added.