Gives into Corporate Dollars
As a baby boomer, I’ve relied on the non-biased, unopinionated reporting by the 60 Minutes team for the last 25 years and have never been disappointed. That was until January of 2023 when a story concerning obesity was aired with Lesley Stahl reporting. The story was of special interest to me because, from the time I was a toddler to a young teen, I was substantially overweight, verging on obesity. I knew the struggles of dealing with weight issues and the abuse that can be put forth by one’s peers. One day I decided enough was enough, and at age 14, I went on a “diet”. I lost 35 lbs and parlayed that into an amateur bodybuilding career. I became a person with an acute interest in nutrition and how it relates to eating habits.
This episode of 60 Minutes on obesity definitely caught my attention. Having always been a fan of Lesley Stahl, I watched with serious intent. Everything was true to cause until the interview with Dr. Stanford, an obesity doctor. From there, things seemed to go awry.
Dr. Stanford’s contention was that obesity is a brain disease. She went on to explain that the brain creates a set point that tells the body how much to eat and how much to store. She made statement after statement that warranted some sort of pushback, which Stahl never provided. Stahl never asked the most obvious questions to contest some of the “logic” that Dr. Stanford was professing.
Case in point. Stahl brought up the scenario about Covid and the lockdown, how many people had gained weight, and alluded to the weight not coming off after the lockdown. Stanford was quick to respond that if a new (higher) weight is established and maintained for 3 to 6 months, the brain creates a new set point, explaining the sustained weight gain. That paved the way for an obvious question for Stahl to ask in return….”So if someone loses weight and maintains that new weight for 3 to 6 months, wouldn’t the brain create a new set point at the lower weight? That question never came.
I couldn’t help but wonder just what was going on. Had 60 Minutes gone soft? Will I need to begin the search for another hard-line news program that attacked issues with the same vigor that I had grown used to with 60 Minutes?
Then at about 6 minutes into the segment, the mystery of Stahls lack of questioning was solved; Novo Norquist, the maker of the obesity drug Wegovy, which had been touted in the segment as a cure for obesity, was an advertiser on the program. Additionally, Dr. Stanford was a consultant for the company.
How could 60 Minutes let this happen? Had they gone soft? Had they let corporate dollars determine the quality and legitimacy of the segment? Much to my dismay, that seemed to be the only conclusion that I could reach.
Earlier in the broadcast, Stanford had used “The Biggest Loser” tv show as an example whereby people lose a lot of weight but tend to regain it, indicating that dieting is ineffective. She derived what I think is the improper conclusion indicating there is no such thing as willpower or the ability to keep weight off because of the “disease”.
A common belief is that issues of obesity are in the mind, but not as a disease. However, by classifying it as a disease, it puts the onus on society for the cure. This I truly don’t believe in.
The Real Demon in “Dieting”
Through my own experiences and speaking with others on the issue that have tried “dieting”, the real demon lies in the word itself. We associate the word dieting with deprivation.
Psychologically, the more we deprive ourselves of something, the more we want it. Hence the key to dieting is changing the mindset from “can’t have” to “don’t want”. Once this is accomplished, the idea of deprivation is eliminated.
Where I do agree with Dr. Stanford is that the problem lies in the mind, however, not as a disease, but as a mindset. Change the mindset, and it changes the attitude towards eating and nutrition. It’s just been in recent years that the weight loss industry has started to focus on changing the psychological approach to eating as a way to induce permanent change in eating habits and, therefore, weight control.
The challenges lie in developed countries, such as the United States, where food is bountiful. We’ve adapted to eating for taste rather than purpose. No longer is sheer nutrition the driving force behind our ingestion. We’ve become slaves to the three-square inches of our body known as the tongue, where the taste buds lie. Unfortunately, and paradoxically, most everything that makes food appealing to the taste buds is generally not healthy, and the good taste lends to overeating. So, is the source of the problem in the mind? YES, but as a mindset, not a disease.
As for 60 Minutes. Unfortunately, the fact that 60 Minutes appeared to cow tow to the advertising dollars puts stress on credibility. The same credibility which has long been a cornerstone of their program. I now watch 60 minutes through a different lens and withhold my opinion on the validity of the reporting until I see who the advertisers are and what incentives may be in play for the guests.
