Diet advice from overweight GPs more likely to be ignored, finds survey

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/dec/30/diet-advice-obese-gps-nhs-losing-weight-public-health

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Britons are much less likely to follow advice from health professionals such as GPs and nurses if the health professionals are overweight or obese, a new survey shows.

Polling commissioned by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) found that 41% of people would be less likely to take advice about adopting a healthy diet from an NHS member of staff who was carrying extra pounds, while just 17% said they would heed it.

Similarly, 48% would be less likely to take advice about exercise and diet from an overweight GP and just fewer than one in 10 – 9% – would heed it. In comparison, 59% would follow such advice if it came from a GP who was not overweight. Just over half (51%) of the 2,100 adults polled said they would listen to advice from an overweight nurse.

And while 38% would be less likely to take advice from an overweight health professional on the need to undertake regular exercise, 16% said that would make them more likely to heed it.

Populus’s survey for the RSPH also found 32% of people would take exercise and diet advice from a firefighter of normal weight, as would 44% from a pharmacist with a healthy body mass index, and 16% from a hairdresser the same weight.

“It’s clear that the public are more inclined to take advice from those of us who are a healthy weight,” said Shirley Cramer, the society’s chief executive. “It appears that healthcare professionals need to be role models in order to help convince the public of the importance of losing weight.”

The readiness to listen to a firefighter, pharmacist or hairdresser was encouraging and would become more important as non-traditional public health personnel started giving healthy lifestyle advice, she added.

Women are more likely to accept such tips from a celebrity (18%) or hairdresser who is not overweight (20%) than men. Just 11% and 12% of males said they would do that.

The findings pose a challenge to the NHS. Some 700,000 NHS staff in England, more than half its 1.3 million-strong workforce, are estimated to be overweight or obese. About two-thirds of the population as a whole are the same.

Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, has urged the service to make it easier for personnel to lead healthier lives by making the food in hospital canteens more nutritious and introducing gyms and incentives to lose weight.

Meanwhile, a separate survey has found that 20% of Britons would do without one of their fingers in return for gaining the perfect body shape.

The finding, from responses by 2,000 adults surveyed by the body confidence organisation Be Real, came as campaigners warned people to beware diets, many of which do not yield weight loss.

“People are increasingly obsessed with diets. But actually, at the same time as a nation we are getting bigger. It is obviously a fixation that doesn’t work,” said Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, the chairwoman of Be Real.

Young women are most likely to become fixated with losing weight, though young children – even pre-teens – can also become affected, added Nokes, who is also chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group on body image.

The survey found that a fifth of adults had skipped meals to try to lose weight, while a quarter admitted they found it hard to maintain exercise and diet regimes.

Charlotte Dickens, a GP in London and chairwoman of the campaign’s health committee, said those who diet were risking their health by striving for perfection that cannot be achieved.