Body Mass Index

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for introducing this debate and delighted to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Jenkin of Kennington. She takes food extremely seriously. I remember going to dinners with her when she took her own meagre dinner with her, because she was raising funds for charity by living on a very small amount to demonstrate not only that it is possible but the miserable lives that so many lead.

When we think of that sort of poverty and lack of food, to think of people in this country deliberately starving themselves is particularly difficult. Nevertheless, BMI is only part of identifying eating disorders. It is, however, a very important public health measure, and I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, that we should not throw out a measure which works helpfully as a public health guide. For instance, the shielding during Covid that was brought into play for those who had a particularly high BMI has proved effective.

Nevertheless, when GPs or other specialists use BMI it should be only part of an armoury of tools at their disposal. It is certainly not the only way in which eating disorders could or should be discovered. What is painfully clear is that people with anorexia are obvious just on sight; no GP needs to look at a BMI reading to spot anorexia. All too often, though, I fear that GPs are reluctant to diagnose eating disorders, in part because of the lack of services to deal with those conditions quickly when they need to be dealt with immediately. Anorexia is one of the most, if not the most, pernicious forms of mental illness and extremely hard to treat, but it is better caught early, as with so many diseases. Doctors use judgment and have to be relied upon to use it when wielding BMI as part of their armoury of tools.

Most important, though, is coping with the outbreak of obesity that has now hit this country, as the noble Baroness, Lady Jenkin, pointed out. Excess weight is a huge problem and really needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency for this country. It was highlighted by Covid but it will become much worse, as many have put on weight during the lockdowns. BMI will be part of the measures for dealing with that.