An editorial published at the Public Library of Science web site on December 27, 2011, should be of interest to all those in Birmingham who have made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight as well as a warning to the 32 percent of Birminghamians who are obese by choice.
Shift work has been correlated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes because "Shift work is notoriously associated with poor patterns of eating, which is exacerbated by easier access to junk food compared with more healthy options."
"The editors argue that working patterns should now be considered a specific risk factor for obesity and type 2 diabetes, which are currently at epidemic proportions in the developed world and likely to become so soon in the less-developed world. They go on to suggest that firm action is needed to address this epidemic, i.e. that "governments need to legislate to improve the habits of consumers and take specific steps to ensure that it is easier and cheaper to eat healthily than not". More specifically, they suggest that unhealthy eating could legitimately be considered a new form of occupational hazard and that workplaces, specifically those who employ shift workers, should lead the way in eliminating this hazard."
Nowhere do the editors or the research upon which they base their opinion ever mention the ability of a person to exercise their will in diet choice. The assumption that obesity and diet are a disease are a guarantee of higher rates of obesity and all the diseases that obesity produces in the coming year and decades beyond.
Making everything a governmental responsibility assures higher taxes and marginal rates of success. So far that has proven a fact in Birmingham because despite the millions of dollars the state and federal government have thrown at obesity research programs and research the obesity rate in Birmingham increased in 2011 versus 2010. So much for the effectiveness of government.
Paper
Poor Diet in Shift Workers: A New Occupational Health Hazard?
Authors
Editors are Virginia Barbour, Jocalyn Clark, Susan Jones, Melissa Norton, Paul Simpson, and Emma Veitch.
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