Hazardous waist? New approaches to tackling male weight problems, sponsored by Men's Health Forum, the Department of Health and the NHS, Savoy Place, London, Monday, 13 June 2005

Hazardous waist? New approaches to tackling male weight problems, sponsored by Men's Health Forum, the Department of Health and the NHS, Savoy Place, London, Monday, 13 June 2005

This was the first national conference on the issue of men and weight. About 300 delegates from all types of backgrounds attended the event. With the event information delegates were sent a pedometer to encourage them to walk part of the way to the event. There were a number of speakers setting the scene as regards male obesity to commence the event. The middle part of the day was devoted to a number of concurrent workshops which covered all types of aspects of male obesity and included such topics as:

• Primary care.

• Community pharmacies.

• Working with boys and teenagers.

• The workplace.

• Male body image.

• Increasing physical activity.

• Media and weight loss.

• Australian gut busters.

• Working with older men.

• Commercial weight loss organisations.

• What men really want.

• Psychological impact of obesity.

There was also a small exhibition of products and organisations related to obesity. These included:

• 1.

  Low carbohydrate products www.xcarb.co.uk

• 2.

  Men's Health Forum who provide an independent voice on male health www.menshealthforum.org.uk

• 3.

  The Obesity Awareness and Solutions Trust (TOAST) www.toast-uk.org.uk

• 4.

  The weight loss surgery information and support charity www.wisinfo.org.uk

• 5.

  Obesity and weight management training centre www.weightmanagementcentre.co.uk

• 6.

  The British Dietetic Association with their weight wise campaign www.bdaweightwise.com.

• 7.

  National Obesity Forum www.nationalobesityforum.org.uk

• 8.

  Slimming world with their referral scheme www.slimming-on-referral.com

• 9.

  Cambridge diet and weight loss www.cambridge-diet.co.ukand weight loss and diabetes www.diabetes.org.uk

• 10.

  National Heart Forum www.heartforum.org.uk

• 11.

  The Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) www.aso.org.uk

The conference concluded with a consensus statement that three quarters of the male population will be overweight by the year 2010 and that this is too many. Five actions were recommended

• 1.

  Politicians, policy makers, practitioners, media and the public need to recognise that weight is a male issue too.

• 2.

  It is important to understand male attitudes and behaviour in relation to weight and weight loss.

• 3.

  There must be an investment in male sensitive approaches.

• 4.

  Work is essential on weight related issues with boys.

• 5.

  A wide ranging strategy on obesity must be developed.

At the end of the conference all delegates were presented with a copy of the HGV MAN– Reducing all large sizes; all shapes and colours – the practical guide to healthy living and weight loss by Dr Ian Banks which has been written in the style of the Haynes car workshop manuals in a light hearted and informative guide with lots of cartoons (ISBN 1 84425 183 7).