The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Davos divided on tackling the scourge of obesity Posted: 24 Jan 2013 05:49 AM PST  General view of delegates attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos January 24, 2013. Business leaders meeting in Davos cannot agree on what they can or should do to address obesity. – Reuters pic The World Economic Forum has some notable past achievements in healthcare, such as galvanising support for the fight against AIDS and the vaccination of children in poor countries, but tackling the rise in obesity promises to be a much more complicated task. "There are huge interests involved. The question is how can we align interests? Industry sees the impact on their bottom line. They need a healthy workforce and healthy consumers," said WEF health and healthcare expert Olivier Raynaud. The WEF estimates a cumulative US$47 trillion of output might be lost in the next 20 years due to non-communicable diseases and mental health problems, with obesity to blame for 44 per cent of the diabetes burden and 23 per cent of heart disease costs. One look at the list of the strategic partners of the WEF shows how many vested interests are at play – food and drink companies are blamed for feeding the crisis, while drug manufacturers profit from soaring rates of diabetes. There are also issues of consumer choice to take into account, and the fact that companies selling calorie-dense foods often also make a range of healthier alternatives. "We could stop selling ice cream, but people are still going to want to eat ice cream," said Paul Bulcke, chief executive of food giant Nestle, which has been investing heavily in developing healthier products, including low-fat ice cream. Just this week, Coca-Cola, whose chief executive Muhtar Kent is one of the co-chairs of this year's Davos gathering, launched a commercial on US cable television that seeks to highlight the company's efforts in fighting obesity. As the soft drink industry faces the threat of tighter regulation, the commercial notes that Coca-Cola sells about 180 low and no-calorie drinks and reminds viewers "if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you'll gain weight". TOUGHER ISSUE THAN SMOKING The WEF will host a private meeting on "healthy living" on Saturday of key players including executives from the food, healthcare and agriculture sectors as well as health regulators and ministers, seeking to get agreement on concrete action. "To solve the issue of tobacco, we excluded tobacco companies. But excluding food and beverage, pharmaceuticals would be a big mistake," said the WEF's Raynard. "The second mistake would be to only blame. The third mistake would be to be too simplistic, just focusing on reducing sugar, for example." The British government announced this week that more food and drink companies have signed up to a voluntary pledge to cut the amount of sugar and calories in their products. That is the kind of approach favoured by Nestle's Bulcke, who rejects tighter regulation: "It's not education alone, it's not diet alone. It's all that, plus healthy physical activity." Alison Martin, a health specialist at insurer Swiss Re who is due to address a discussion on obesity with Bulcke on Saturday, said trying to fight the problem with the same kind of taxes or bans imposed on tobacco would not work. "There is nothing inherently wrong with eating a hamburger or drinking a can of Coke as part of a balanced diet, so it's unlike smoking," she said. "That leads it to being a more difficult, thorny issue, which is clearly why we haven't been successful in tackling it to date." Instead of focusing on counting calories, insurers like Swiss Re are developing policies aimed at encouraging healthier living by offering lower premiums, for example if clients promise to go to the gym or buy fruit and vegetables. Khalid Al Falih, head of Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer, said the productivity of companies was already being undermined by the poor health of some employees. "This situation is of special concern to us because we live in a region that has one of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world," he said as the WEF published new data supporting the case for more investment in workplace health. Four out of five diabetics now live in low and middle-income countries, and global sales of diabetes medicines are expected to reach US$48-US$53 billion by 2016, up from US$39.2 billion in 2011, according to research firm IMS Health. 'ALL YOU NEED IS SHOES' Yasuchika Hasegawa, the CEO of drugmaker Takeda, which has interests in medicines for both diabetes and obesity, said such interventions were needed, given the deep-seated nature of the appetite for sweet and fatty foods. "It's a fundamental problem. To fix the problem you have to change behaviour, but changing behaviour is the most difficult thing to do," he said. Perhaps inspired by the fact that all but the very top VIPs have to trudge through snow to reach the WEF conference centre, the most popular prescription is to promote physical activity through simple measures like building more sidewalks. "It is hard to get people to eat healthier, but we can get people to walk. All they need is shoes," said George Halvorson, head of US healthcare firm Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, who spends at least 30 minutes a day on his treadmill. Nike, another company with a clear agenda on the issue, recently commissioned a study estimating that nine per cent of all premature deaths worldwide are due to inactivity. But Eva Jane-Llopis, WEF chronic disease expert, said government intervention – like the soda taxes so vehemently opposed by the soft drinks industry – are still needed. "Everybody likes physical activity because it is not contentious, but it is not a silver bullet," she said. "We need regulation to level the playing field. Everyone is going to have to do much more if we want to turn the tide, especially in middle-income countries." – Reuters |
| Gaultier gives Paris fashion Gypsies, Valentino goes Renaissance Posted: 23 Jan 2013 06:03 PM PST  The spectacle of Jean Paul Gaultier's Rajasthan theme. — Reuters pics The Spring 2013 collections presented yesterday by the two design houses, one French and one Italian, found inspiration from different epochs and parts of the globe, pointing to the diversity seen during Paris Fashion Week, the creme de la creme of the global fashion industry. Gaultier, often labelled the bad boy of French fashion, turned eastward to India for inspiration, transporting his audience to Rajasthan, with sinewy models sporting oversized earrings and billowy veils in periwinkle, tangerine and pink. Valentino — under new owners the Qatari royal family and with the designing duo of Maria Grazie Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli at the helm — presented a more sobre but no less theatrical vision. Gowns that a 15th century queen would have been proud of featured patterns that brought to mind iron grillwork in a formal garden. This range of options for women willing to shell out thousands of dollars for a made-to-order haute couture outfit help prop up the global women's luxury apparel market, estimated at €27 billion (RM109.2 billion) and growing, according to consultancy Bain & Company. Only a small number of houses such as Christian Dior, Chanel and Giorgio Armani are allowed to exhibit haute couture in Paris, where manufacturing is carefully regulated and work must be sewn by hand in order to be considered haute couture.  Gaultier embraces one of his creations at the end of his show. Backstage, Gaultier said it was not the first time he had been influenced by India, but this time he evoked the Gypsies, a migratory people whose centuries-old ancestral home is India. "It's glimmering, it's incredible the colours that you see, it's superb," he told reporters, speaking of Rajasthan. "I tried to recreate a bit of that, but more the Gypsy side, rather than the Maharaja side. It's more like couture Gypsies." The audience — which included French film star Catherine Deneuve and actress Rossy de Palma, a muse of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar — began furiously snapping photos at the appearance of a black form-fitting gown with an exposed brassiere whose diaphanous hot pink veil added a jolt of colour. Bold stripes, tight pleating and even fringe figured prominently in the collection, where a dose of colourful patchwork offered a fresh, devil-may-care attitude. Gaultier said the patchwork was hard to recreate, but offered a fashion tip to anyone with scissors. "In the time of economic crisis, those who are game, take your old clothes, cut them up and make patchwork! It's a new outfit!" Borrowed from Botticelli The liner notes for Valentino's collection described it as "sublime art" and indeed, many of the looks could have been stolen from a Botticelli painting. With founder Valentino Garavani, who retired in 2008, in the front row, guests admired the parade of ivory, black and carnal red dresses, where heavy embroidery reminiscent of armour nevertheless imparted a light, evanescent feel.  The Renaissance look of Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Picciolo. Silk piping wove its way across a translucent black cape covering a diaphanous white gown, the cape's swirls and geometric patterns evoking the ornamental gates to a garden. High necklines and tight long sleeves evoked the gowns one sees adorning the marble tombs of many a deceased Renaissance-era queen, but Chiuri and Piccioli's work never felt old. The decorative swirling pattern on some dresses evoked tapestries, while the sharp horizontal bodices of others recalled the Elizabethan-era. Despite the many references to centuries gone by, the collection felt fresh and elegant. Backstage, a note to models summed up what the designers hoped to communicate: "You are all beautiful. Be Light. Be Delicate." In an October 15 report, Bain forecast the worldwide luxury industry would bring in estimated revenues of €212 billion in 2012, of which women's apparel would be a €27 billion slice. — Reuters |
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