Wales' top doctor has dismissed calls for a "food tsar" but says extra funds may be needed for more obesity surgery.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Jewell said a review of the amount of obesity surgery in Wales was being carried out.
He spoke to BBC Wales' Week In Week Out programme, which followed a 50-stone man who paid for an operation in India.
Dr Jewell said there was evidence such treatments could save money if they stopped people developing life-threatening diseases like diabetes.
The programme focuses on Zach Smith, 38, from Rhoose, in the Vale of Glamorgan, who borrowed his mother's life savings to pay for bariatric surgery in India.
Continue reading the main storyHe said: "We do need almost like a nutrition tsar, we need somebody to tell us what we should be putting in our mouths."
Dr Jewell said there is no need for a "food tsar" because there is already a comprehensive and joined up strategy in place to tackle obesity.
He added: "If we need to find the resources to support [more bariatric surgery] we will need to identify where they will come from because we are in a very tight financial situation.
He added that in order to pay for it, the question was "what are we going to stop".
'Hard work'
Mr Smith's operation took away most of his stomach so he can only eat small amounts at a time.
He tells the programme: "It's been a monumental year
"It's taken dedication, focus and hard work."
He also has a schedule of three-hour gym workouts every day, which he claims has helped him shed the pounds.
However, Chepstow-based nutritionist and author Zoe Harcombe tells the programme: "We cannot exercise away the junk we are putting into our bodies."
She said she believes current UK government advice on what to eat is over-complicated and "180-degrees wrong".
She calls for the Welsh government to change its advice to something simpler, for instance to eat "real" rather than "processed" food.
surce link : health news update
Related Stories :Obase Wales hospital patients rising, figures suggest , Operation to help man shed 30st ,50st Zac Smith of Rhoose pays for operation in India, make money
No comments:
Post a Comment