18 2GM Saturday August 1 2020 | the times
News
Doctors have been urged to avoid using
non-medical terms such as “chunky”
when talking to obese patients.
A new guide from the charity Obesi-
ty UK also says clinicians should avoid
using “threatening” phrases such as
telling patients: “If you don’t lose
weight you will end up with your leg
chopped off, or just plain dead.”
The guide, Language Matters: Obesi-
ty, aims to help doctors use more appro-
priate and helpful language when inter-
acting with patients with obesity.
David Strain, of the University of
Exeter medical school, who co-led the
project to produce the guidance, said:
“There is general agreement that living
with obesity is associated with a stigma.
Words can burn, and contribute to the
problems, meaning people may be far
of research. It concluded that solid and
higher-viscosity foods reduced hunger
and promoted satiety.
Two thirds of Britons are overweight
or obese, raising their risk of diseases
including cancer as well as that of being
seriously ill if they catch Covid-19. The
team said that their findings could help
companies reformulating foods in light
of the government’s anti-obesity drive.
Professor John Blundell of Leeds
University, a co-author of the study,
said: “Designing foods to prevent over-
consumption in an aggressive consum-
er environment requires an interdisci-
plinary team with knowhow in food
technology, nutrition and behavioural
sciences, and with a clear understand-
ing of the factors controlling appetite.”Solid advice: dieters should
watch out for food textures
Kat LayDon’t call obese chunky, doctors told
less willing to seek support. As health-
care professionals, we have the oppor-
tunity to address this stigma, in leading
by example with our words and actions,
to promote the best health outcomes.”
The guidance offers examples to doc-
tors of what to avoid saying, and what to
try instead. It urges doctors to avoid
“using non-clinical terms, which can be
disrespectful, judgmental and inappro-
priate” such as: “You’re a bit on the
chunky side, shall we say.”
It says they should try “asking per-
mission to discuss weight”, and talking
about “some people, rather than ‘you’ ”.
Saying “you just need to eat less” is
unhelpful, the guidance explains,
because “people living with obesity
have lower levels of and/or are insensi-
tive to the hormones that give pleasure
from food and cause satiety... the main
symptom of obesity is hunger, evenafter eating. Telling a person living with
obesity to eat less is like telling a person
with asthma to breathe less.” It suggests
asking: “What’s been going on in your
life since I last met you? Has this had an
impact on what you eat?”
This “can be a way in which to find
out more about their eating experien-
ces and how they might be addressed”.
Other recommendations include
being “environmentally aware”, so as
not to add to patients’ stress. For exam-
ple, it says: “Chairs with arms and
weight limits can be restrictive and
tight spaces with chairs back to back
can be hard to navigate between.”
Boris Johnson launched a strategy on
obesity this week, with proposals
including a watershed for adverts for
certain foods, and the end of promo-
tional deals on unhealthy foods.
Diet that could save your life, WeekendKat Lay Health Correspondent
Dieters are used to keeping an eye on
calories, carbs and fats, but a new study
suggests that they should add textures.
Eating more solid and viscous foods
may help us to feel fuller for longer, re-
searchers at Leeds University have said.
Ecaterina Stribitcaia, a PhD student
and lead author of the study, said:
“Picking food that is going to keep you
fuller for longer is a good idea.
“Our findings suggest that these are
foods that are solid or have a higher
viscosity — gels, as opposed to liquids.
In other words, reach for the apple
rather than the apple juice.”
The study, published in Scientific
Reports, is a meta-analysis of 23 piecesSeats of learning are defined by the
great books they hold. The British
Library has Newton’s Principia, a me-
mento of enlightened times, and Trini-
ty College Dublin has the Book of Kells,
illuminating life in the Middle Ages.
When historians seek to understand
our own brash age, they will look no
further than Stirling University for the
Argos catalogue, the complete 47-year
series of an era-defining publication.
At its height in the early Nineties it
found its way into 80 per cent of British
homes and the print run was larger
than any book in Europe. This week
publication of the catalogue ceased at
last, the company finally surrendering
to the mass appeal of the internet.
The demise of the catalogue makes
this collection more important than
ever, according to Leigh Sparks, the
professor of retail studies who began to
It’s social history, says professor who
has every Argos catalogue since 1973
Teenager in
Bognor Regis
charged over
Twitter hack
Tom Knowles
Technology CorrespondentA British teenager has been charged for
his alleged part in a Twitter hack that
accessed the accounts of some of the
world’s most famous people.
The US Justice Department said that
Mason Sheppard, 19, from Bognor
Regis, West Sussex, had been charged
with conspiracy to commit money
laundering, wire fraud and the inten-
tional access of a protected computer.
He is one of three men charged,
alongside Nima Fazeli, 22, from Orlan-
do, Florida. The third defendant is a “ju-
venile” who is too young to be named.
The 130 accounts targeted last month
included those of Barack Obama; Joe
Biden, his former vice-president and
the Democratic presidential candidate;
Elon Musk, the Tesla founder; Jeff Be-
zos, the Amazon founder; Bill Gates,
the Microsoft founder; Kanye West, the
rapper; and his wife, the reality TV star
Kim Kardashian. Scammers held the
accounts and told followers they had 30
minutes to send $1,000 (£800) worth of
the cryptocurrency bitcoin to a special
link to be sent back twice as much.
Bitcoin transactions showed that the
hackers earned more than $100,
(£80,000) within the first few hours.
Twitter took the unusual step of pre-
venting any account with a blue tick,
which shows verification, from posting
for hours until the issue was fixed.
Others lost control of their accounts if
they tried to change passwords.
The company, which is based in San
Francisco, took days to restore access
fully and has since said that the hackers
tricked employees into handing details
over on the phone. The hack raised
concerns about the access staff have to
users’ accounts. Twitter said that it was
taking a “hard look” at how it could
improve.
6 Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter,
has accused rival tech giants of “killing
competing ideas” and threatening free-
dom online. This week the chief execu-
tives of Apple, Google and Facebook,
and Mr Bezos, appeared before the US
Congress as part of an inquiry about
anti-competitive behaviour. All four
deny blocking competitors. Mr Dorsey,
43, said: “The most incredible aspect of
the internet is that no one person or or-
ganisation controls it: the people make
it what it is every day. The ideal is con-
stantly under threat, especially today.”form it 30 years ago.
He said the collection,
thought to be unique
outside of Argos itself,
was “an invaluable
piece of social history,
a window on retailing
and consumer worlds
that we no longer can
accurately envisage”.
On the most basic
level, the 93 volumes
demonstrate fads and
fashions through the
generations. At 250
pages the first edition
— 1973-74 — is a slim affair but takes in
everything from Goblin Teasmades to
table lighters. New technology comes at
a much higher price: a Hanimex Pocket
Calculator is £44, despite being of a
scale that would stretch even the big-
gest pocket. On the sports pages rugged
men in tracksuits model chest expand-ers and rowing machines,
while a woman in a
daring swimsuit tries out
an Automasseur (£13.95)
in a display featuring two
dartboards (£1.35 each)
three hockey sticks
(£2.95 each) and three
“John Pullman” snooker
cues (£5.35 each).
Sometimes images of
a single product charted
down the years can shed
light on everything from
gender stereotypes and
technology, to eco-
nomic trends and the psychology of
marketing, Professor Sparks said.
He offered a disquisition on the his-
tory of the iron, “as basic as it gets” and
the kind of product only brandished by
the woman of the house in the Seven-
ties. In the early editions irons seem
expensive but, as Chinese imports floodin, the price falls relative to other
domestic products, despite ever more
complex designs. “An iron, functional
and utilitarian at the start, becomes a
product which says something about
you even though most people will never
see you doing the ironing,” he said.
Professor Sparks, 63, recognises that
for people of a certain age the books are
full of nostalgia. The Queen’s Silver Ju-
bilee, 1977, is a vintage year. Once en-
countered, few forgot the lava lamp (or
the Crestworth Telstar Bubble Lamp, to
give it its full name), while a product
picture reminds former users that the
sheer bulk of the Polaroid Instant 10
camera ultimately ensured its doom.
Some of his colleagues have the same
collecting bug. One has early Next cat-
alogues; another seeks out Ikea cata-
logues. “The same academic has an
obsession with Billy Bookcases but that
is a different matter,” Professor Sparks
said. “It is a really weird world, isn’t it?”Mike Wade
Professor Leigh Sparks of the University
of Stirling says the catalogues, including
No 1, above, and No 10, below, illustrate
trends in gender norms and marketing
SWNS; ROBERT PERRY FOR THE TIMES