"If you fat, you fat. Deal with it." So said Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan bluntly yesterday, as he appealed to obese citizens to battle their bulge at the launch of his ministry's "Fight the Fat" campaign at Port-of-Spain waterfront. During an interview with reporters, Khan noted that there were too many non-communicable diseases among people in the country which require hospitalisation and cost taxpayers millions. Khan noted that there was a rise in cancer of the breast, bowels and among children. He urged citizens to practice better eating habits and to exercise regularly. In the last 20 years, Khan said, child obesity had increased by 60 per cent in T&T. "What we have also found is that there are more fat women today than 20 years ago. There are more fat men but women have outnumbered men."
Khan said the chemicals and artificial flavours in foods could be a contributing factor to cancers. Noting that heart disease is T&T's number one killer, Khan warned that stricter action will be taken against local manufacturers of food and beverages to disclose the ingredients which they are putting in their products. "I am hoping to carry to Parliament some legislation that people must know the calorie, sugar, chemical content of what they are eating." Khan said people did not want him to use the word fat. "They tried to take out all the fat people in my advertisement. If you fat, you fat...and use that as your headline. If you fat, lose it. Deal with it."