Volume 26 · Number 3 · Spring 2009
Informed Dissent
Judith Stern
(Photo: Karin Higgins/UC Davis)
(Page 2 of 5)
Judith Stern: Weighing in on obesity
Judith Stern has strong views — about the need to treat obesity as a disability, about what should be considered a “normal” body mass index, about menu-labeling policies and about what’s in those McDonald’s Happy Meals — and she is forthright in expressing them. A distinguished professor in the UC Davis departments of Nutrition and Internal Medicine she is an expert on diet and nutrition and has published extensively on nutrition, the effect of exercise on appetite and metabolism, and obesity.
“My research is pretty standard,” Stern says. “I don’t think it’s really controversial. But I’ve been involved in some things that have been controversial.” For example, she opposed the decision by the National Institutes of Health Obesity Advisory Committee to lower the definition of “overweight” from a body mass index of 27 to a BMI of 25 to be consistent with that of the World Health Organization. “The data weren’t there” to support it, she says.
And what was the response to her objection? “They ignored me,” she laughs. “And then I rotated off the committee, meaning they rotated me off. So what I say is, if you’re a scientist and you think outside the box, if you’re not going along with the general scientific stand, you’re not rewarded.”
Stern has equally strong opinions regarding nutritional labeling in fast-food restaurants. In an opinion piece that appeared in the July 3, 2008, issue of the Sacramento Bee, Stern and her co-author took issue with a proposed bill that would allow fast-food restaurants to display health information in brochures instead of directly on menus.
“I think consumers have a right to know at point of purchase,” she says — information in a brochure placed by the cash register or on a placemat is often seen only after the food has been ordered and paid for. “When I go into McDonald’s, I want to see exactly how many calories I’m getting.”
Obesity is a disease, Stern says, and obesity research deserves to be funded at levels approaching those of heart disease or diabetes. “Obesity is associated with 30 or more diseases,” she says, noting that 80 percent of those who get type 2 diabetes are obese. “That’s staggering. So if we knew more about obesity, either how to control it or what drugs to use, we would make a major impact on the health of people with type 2 diabetes.”
Extremely obese individuals face discrimination in many forms, says Stern. For example, medical insurance coverage for bariatric (weight loss) surgery varies from state to state and some airlines make the obese pay for two seats. “My feeling is, we have disabled access for lots of people; we should do something for very obese people. Either we give them two seats because they’re disabled, or they should sit in business or first class without extra charge.” Asked about the perception that an obese person’s own behavior caused the problem and therefore doesn’t deserve the special consideration given to a paraplegic, Stern counters, “Let’s say a person became a paraplegic because they were driving while intoxicated and hit a tree. We still treat them as disabled, and we should.”
Next page: Nicole Woolsey Biggart