Regardless of the primary driver of public discourse, an individual focus on obesity has resulted in a proliferation of intervention studies seeking to improve the health of individuals through weight reduction, the long-term effectiveness of which has been questioned. 6 However, it is difficult to discern the source of the public discourse, as media reports have been found to lead the discussion with 72% to 98% of obesity-related reports emphasizing individual responsibility for weight, compared with scientific papers (approximately 40%). This has included critics who suggest that obesity has been primarily framed within a medical discourse, thereby creating a great deal of social anxiety and “fear of fatness,” which in turn has contributed to a focus on individual responsibility related to body weight and size. 4,5 As a result, reducing obesity rates is a target for public health action, and existing approaches to obesity management and prevention are under intense scrutiny.ĭebate over the impact of obesity, both direct and indirect, on public health has also exploded in the literature, particularly over the past 10 to 15 years. 3 Obesity has been linked with a range of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, several cancers, gallbladder disease, coronary artery disease, and stroke.
The problem of what to do about rising obesity rates is a major preoccupation of the early 21st century, as the number of overweight people in the world was observed to equal the number of underfed people.
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