Writing in [s]The Independent[/s], Zoë Harcombe, author of [i]The Obesity Epidemic[/i], is scathing of new UK government guidelines that recommend massively expanding bariatric surgery, arguing that the UK’s dire obesity situation is the result of ‘current dietary advice that has produced epidemics of both obesity and diabetes’.
Harcombe believes also that there are conflicts of interest within the government’s [b]National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice)[/b]. ‘In February, Nice recommended a substantial increase in the number of people who should be given statins. I discovered that eight out of 12 of its panel members had conflicting relationships with the drug companies… Six out of 14 members of this latest panel have conflicts of interest. Four are bariatric surgeons and two are happy customers of bariatric surgery.’
[link url=http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/gastric-bands-are-as-useful-as-a-plaster-on-a-severed-artery-9602313.html]Full report in The Independent[/link]
[link url=http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg43/resources/bariatric-surgical-service-commissioning-guide2]New Bariatric Surgery Guidelines[/link]