12 TONS OF FLESH REMOVED

Northern Advocate, 9 January 1936, Page 9

12 TONS OF FLESH REMOVED

DIETIC TREATMENT SELDOM FAILS The removal of some 12 tons of superfluous weight from East End women in nine years by dieting is reported in the “Lancet.” Dr Donald Hunter, of London Hospital, said in a discussion on obesity that in. the last nine years 2,447 cases had been reported to the dietetic department for gross overweight. “Only 682 attended long enough to get any benefit: 92 per cent, had been women, and 262 had simple obesity without

illness. Of those «who came regularly, 93 per cent, were obedient, and lost weight, “The first part of the problem was to convince the patient that weight could be reduced by dietetic means only, without drugs and without interference with normal life. The loss , aimed at should not exceed 21b a week, and the average diet had 1,000 to 1,200 calories. “It was important to realise that the dietetic treatment of obesity was a practical proposition; the only real difficulty being psychological.” “One thousand obesity out-patients —mostly women —come to the London 1 Hospital every year,” said ; an official 1 of the dietetic department there. It is : impossible to give a specimen diet for i

obesity, as each case requires individual treatment, and there may be the complications of other diseases. We are not interested in women who are merely slimming. The Whitechapel woman wants to reduce her obesity and become thin because then she can work once more. “It is the woman of 13 to 20 stone we want to treat, not the woman who is 10 stone and would like to be eight because it is fashionable. And slimming is probably often dangerous to health.” If dietetic treatment is faithfully undertaken by the patient and carried out to the orders of the' doctor it seldom, fails. The result is not only a reduction in weight, but increased physical well-being.