UK anti-obesity coronavirus campaign is a nightmare for eating disorder sufferers

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Beat spokesperson Tom Quinn agrees. Quinn is critical of the language used throughout the Better Health campaign as well as the calorie counting measure.
"We are very concerned that this will have a detrimental impact on people with or at risk of developing an eating disorder," he told CNN.
"We are already starting to hear from people who are very distressed, [...] who think these measures will increase their eating disordered behaviors."
Quinn told CNN that Beat welcomed some of the new policies, including the government's planned expansion of NHS weight management services.
Beat also has no opposition to the ban on junk food advertisements before 9 p.m., the time when children are most likely to see them.
The ban restricts advertising of food high in fat, sugar or salt on television and online. The government will also hold a consultation on whether to ban online ads completely. But despite the high-profile campaign, the restriction is not expected to be in place until 2022.

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"Some of the language is quite stigmatizing," he said. "[There's an] implication that people with obesity are costing the NHS money and harming other people. If you lose weight to save lives, the implication is that you're costing lives if you don't [lose weight]," he added.
"There's a sense of focus on the individual." Quinn said the strategy did not have enough focus on the wider societal factors that contribute to obesity.

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"I like the fact that they're encouraging movement," Virgo said. "And that we're encouraged to exercise -- they should do that instead of scaring people and creating this fear around weight."
Virgo added: "My big concern is [that] they're taking a very one size fits all approach. For people with bulimia or [who] binge eat, [calorie listing] could exacerbate their illness."

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Risk for hospitalization following infection with the new coronavirus increases by more than 338% for severely obese and 70% for mildly obese adults, and by nearly 39% for those who are overweight, the researchers said.

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