166: The Alleged “Cost” of Fatness on Society

Explicit content warning

05/10/23 • 67 min

When we see headlines about the cost of fatness on society and what a terrible burden that is - are those numbers real? How do they come up with that number? We are looking at the supposed burden of fat people in Canada today and their $7.1 billion cost and working out how they got to that figure and how much of that number can be attributable to anti-fat bias and the harms living in a society dedicated to fat hate. TW: 3 mentions of O Word by mistake and anti-fat fuckery.

Episode show notes: http://www.fiercefatty.com/166

Support me on Ko-Fi and get the Size Diversity Resource Guide: https://ko-fi.com/fiercefatty/tiers

The costs of obesity in Canada have been estimated at $4.6–$7.1 billion annually: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/migration/phac-aspc/hp-ps/hl-mvs/oic-oac/assets/pdf/oic-oac-eng.pdf

Is there more to the equation? Weight bias and the costs of obesity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6964496/

Letter to the Editor: Response to Singh et al. (2018). Is there more to the equation? Weight bias and the costs of obesity. Canadian Journal of Public Health: https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-019-00223-2

New “ob*sity” treatments and technology to save the NHS billions: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-obesity-treatments-and-technology-to-save-the-nhs-billions#:~:text=Obesity%20costs%20the%20NHS%20a,spent%20on%20key%20frontline%20services.

Episode show notes: http://www.fiercefatty.com/166

Support me on Ko-Fi and get the Size Diversity Resource Guide: https://ko-fi.com/fiercefatty/tiers

The costs of obesity in Canada have been estimated at $4.6–$7.1 billion annually: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/migration/phac-aspc/hp-ps/hl-mvs/oic-oac/assets/pdf/oic-oac-eng.pdf

Is there more to the equation? Weight bias and the costs of obesity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6964496/

Previous Episode

165: “Weight Loss” Surgery Stats and Stories (part 3)

Does weight loss surgery make you thin? What percentage of people is it successful for? Are the side effects worth it and what are they exactly? This episode is a deep dive into bariatric surgery AKA "weight loss" surgery AKA stomach amputation. CW: There are mentions of the O Words, suicide rates and brief mention of calories.

Episode show notes: http://www.fiercefatty.com/165

Support me on Ko-Fi and get the Size Diversity Resource Guide: https://ko-fi.com/fiercefatty/tiers

Comparison of the Performance of Common Measures of Weight Regain After Bariatric Surgery for Association With Clinical Outcomes: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2707460

All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Associated with Bariatric Surgery: A Review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5055056/#:~:text=findings%20have%20emerged.-,Bariatric%20surgical%20patients%20have%3A%201

Comparison of the Performance of Common Measures of Weight Regain After Bariatric Surgery for Association With Clinical Outcomes: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2707460

Body Image Disturbances and Weight Bias After Obesity Surgery: Semantic and Visual Evaluation in a Controlled Study, Findings from the BodyTalk Project: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8012323/

Coping With "ob*sity" Stigma Affects Depressed Mood in African-American and White Candidates for Bariatric Surgery: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5670735/#R4

Death Rates and Causes of Death After Bariatric Surgery for Pennsylvania Residents, 1995 to 2004: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4888907/

Depression, Anxiety, and Binge Eating Before and After Bariatric Surgery: Problems that Remain: https://www.scielo.br/j/abcd/a/tZXDCfc855KxdXcFKTbVtHR/?lang=en

Diabetes after Bariatric Surgery: https://www.canadianjournalofdiabetes.com/article/S1499-2671(16)30072-7/fulltext

Ethical questions about surgery raised by scientists: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/196339

Late Relapse of Diabetes After Bariatric Surgery: Not Rare, but Not a Failure: https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/43/3/534/35625/Late-Relapse-of-Diabetes-After-Bariatric-Surgery

Long-Term Follow-up After Bariatric Surgery: A Systematic Review: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1900516

Long-Term Outcomes After Bariatric Surgery: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Weight Loss at 10 or More Years for All Bariatric Procedures and a Single-Centre Review of 20-Year Outcomes After Adjustable Gastric Banding: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11695-018-3525-0

Mineral Malnutrition Following Bariatric Surgery: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3771134/#:~:text=Bariatric%20surgery%20exacerbates%20preexisting%20malnutrition,with%20micronutrient%20supplementation%20following%20surgery.

Patient experiences of outcomes of bariatric surgery: a systematic review and qualitative synthesis: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12518

Prevalence of alcohol use disorders before and after bariatric surgery: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3682834/#:~:text=There%20is%20some%20evidence%20that

Recent Experiences of Weight-based Stigmatization in a Weight Loss Surgery Population: Psychological and Behavioral Correlates: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2008.457

Risk of suicide and non-fatal self-harm after bariatric surgery: results from two matched cohort studies: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5932484/

Risk of suicide and self-harm is increased after bariatric surgery - a systematic review and meta-analysis: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11695-018-3493-4

Substance Use after Bariatric Surgery: A Review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4789154/

Suicide rates after bariatric surgery: https://bariatrictimes.com/understanding-postoperative-suicide-self-injury/#:~:text=Based%20on%20their%20analysis%2C%20the,3.2%E2%80%935.1%2F10%2C000

Survival among high-risk patients after bariatric surgery: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21666276/#:~:text=Results%3A%20Among%20patients%20who%20had,and%2015.2%25%20for%20nonsurgical%20controls.

The Impact of Bariatric Surgery on Psychological Health: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobe/2013/837989/

Untold stories of living with a bariatric body: long-term experiences of weight-loss surgery: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.12999

“But Everything Is Supposed to Get Better After Surgery!” Understanding Postoperative Suicide and Self-Injury: https://bariatrictimes.com/understanding-postoperative-suicide-self-injury/

Long-term weight regain after gastric bypass: a 5-year prospective study: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5459557_Long-term_Weight_Regain_after_Gastric_Bypass_A_5-year_Prospective...

Next Episode

167: I Am Terrified People Are Judging Me!

So many of us are anxious about people negatively judging our appearance and body size. And let’s be real; people DO judge us and that sucks! So should we hide away and never venture out for fear of that judgement? Do people who seem to not give AF really not give AF or are they only pretending? How can we support ourselves to live with judgement from others? ALSO bonus info: I share every single cost of running a business, that business being mine! From the cost of contractors to Facebook ads and everything in between. If that doesn’t interest you skip to 27 mins in for the fat stuff.

Episode show notes: http://www.fiercefatty.com/167

Support me on Ko-Fi and get the Size Diversity Resource Guide: https://ko-fi.com/fiercefatty/tiers