For more than 30 years, Dr. Arthur Frank has been searching for ways to fight obesity. In 1991 he brought the fight to The George Washington University Weight Management Program, where he’s the medical director. It’s there that Frank and his team of doctors, psychologists and dietitians work with obese patients to reprogram their thinking about food.
How did you get interested in studying and fighting obesity?
I was originally a biochemist studying the metabolism of fat, and for some time I was studying nutrition and public policy, and my interest evolved from there. I realized the biggest nutritional problem was obesity and I wanted to see if I could do something that could make a difference.
There is a lot of talk these days about an obesity epidemic. Why is there such a problem with obesity?
It’s not just an American problem; it’s a problem anywhere there’s a surplus of food. People have been preprogrammed to eat when there’s a surplus of food because historically those surpluses didn’t last and so people had to store the food. Today in many societies there’s ample food supply, but we continue to eat as if it might run out. America is perceived as the heaviest because we got there first. For people to lose weight,we’ll have to reprogram their natural behavior.
What does that entail?
It’s a slow process. It’s like diabetes or high blood pressure; we’ll be able to control it but not eliminate it. There’s several ways: behavior therapy, exercise, people have to be able to control the brain signals that they’ve been programmed with as a species. One method is pharmaceuticals, and we’re developing those now.
How close are you to a breakthrough?
We’re moving in the direction of being able to control obesity more effectively and in the next decade, we’ll see big leaps forward. We won’t cure anybody, but the best thing you can do is struggle with better ways, and we’re not going to stop until we’ve made it easier for folks.
