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Medical Professionals Must Set Example In War On Obesity

Posted: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Obesity is a major public health concern in the United States and medical professionals are not exempt from the problem.

280 members of the AMA House of Delegates are overweight or obese, while just 140 are normal weight or less. That was the result of an informal after-lunch survey of 420 of 528 voting delegates in the House. Based on obesity guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1% of delegates are underweight and 33% are normal weight, while 47% were overweight and 19% obese.

The delegate survey came just a day after the AMA sponsored an educational forum on the growing concern about obesity.

Asked to comment on the "size" of the AMA House, Trustee Dr. Ronald Davis of Detroit -- who noted that his BMI is a healthy 24 -- said, "Doctors do hard work that requires long hours and many don't get the physical activity that they should get."

Nonetheless, Dr. Davis said there is no doubt that the AMA could do more about promoting fitness among its members.

"We have made an effort to promote healthy food and I think that is working. I don't think I've ever seen as much fruit as I have at this meeting," he said. But he added that he has also seen a good deal of "eggs, bacon and sausage."

Dr. Davis, who is a preventive medicine specialist, said the AMA plans to concentrate on fitness in much the same way that it attacked smoking. He said that currently less than 5% of physicians smoke, which is a tribute to the anti-smoking efforts of the organization. He noted that in addition to the BMI survey, the AMA has "handed out pedometers to encourage members to walk."

The Speaker of the AMA House of Delegates Dr. Nancy Nielsen of Orchard Park, New York, said the impromptu survey is part of a "challenge to the House to reduce our size."

Beyond tracking the fitness of its delegates, the AMA approved a series of resolutions aimed at tackling the national obesity problem including one that asks for legislation to require that fast food restaurants provide lists of the nutritional content of all foods, including total calories, fats and carbohydrates.