A survey by Safefood indicates that the RTÉ reality TV show Operation Transformation appears to have had a positive impact on the nation's health. The survey was carried out by Safefood, the State agency that monitors food quality. It also sponsors Operation Transformation.
Two out of five Irish adults watched the 2013 series and, of those, 30 per cent had done so to motivate themselves to improve their lifestyle.
In January, Dr Jacky Jones wrote in her column in Health+Family in The Irish Times that Operation Transformation was a "cringe-inducing programme [which] is portrayed by RTÉ as being about the nation's health when it is just another reality TV show designed to entertain".
Jones, who is a former HSE regional manager of health promotion and a member of the Healthy Ireland Council, wrote in her column that "obesity levels will not decrease because of Operation Transformation".
“Advice-giving programmes, no matter how entertaining, have little or no effect on the health behaviour of the population as a whole”.
National debate
Safefood’s director of human health and nutrition, Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan, responded by stating that
Operation Transformation
had “created and sustained a national debate about our personal weight and how we need to address that for our long-term health and that of our children. Our research shows that they also inspire a social movement involving thousands of people right across the country.”
Safefood’s survey was carried out in April 2013 among a representative sample of 1,028 adults. Of the 12 per cent of the total adult population who claim to have been motivated to improve their lifestyle, two out of five, or 5 per cent of the total adult population, lost weight and two-thirds of them, or 8 per cent of the overall population, were motivated to continue their healthy lifestyle.
Six out of 10 Operation Transformation viewers have made positive lifestyle changes since the show, and eight out of 10 believe that programmes such as Operation Transformation are important to provide healthy lifestyle advice that focuses on weight management and healthy eating.
