Is Obesity a Disease?

[straits]

Do people think calling obesity a disease will lead to a significant number of obese individuals giving up on changing their lives?

It might cause a significant number of obese individuals to shift responsibility for their health and diet onto a "professional". That isn't necessarily a good thing.

[Sci-2]

It might cause a significant number of obese individuals to shift responsibility for their health and diet onto a "professional". That isn't necessarily a good thing.

Why put professional in quotes? I'm not fully comprehending the negative here. Having psychiatrists and nutritionists involved with treatment that can be covered under insurance seems like a good thing.

eta: Ah, Lady Cassandra read my mind. :-)

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

It might cause a significant number of obese individuals to shift responsibility for their health and diet onto a "professional". That isn't necessarily a good thing.

I don't see how you come to that conclusion, please explain.

I think it more likely people might seek professional help to deal with the obesity. Yes?

[Fragile Bird]

I don't see how you come to that conclusion, please explain.

I think it more likely people might seek professional help to deal with the obesity. Yes?

That's what I think - that people will say, if it's a disease, give me help.

[jurble]

To me, saying obesity is a disease is the same as saying humans do not have free will. Sorry if that offends anyone, but it is that simple to me. I have been on both sides.

Humans don't have free will, ergo obesity is a disease? That's a perfectly fine statement, and I agree.

[Guest]

I don't think that we can assume, a priori, that it is a helpful thing. Perhaps, but they hardly even teach nutrition in medical school.

I'll quote something from the Time article I linked on page 1:

In addition, incorrectly categorizing people who can control their lifestyle by changing their diet or becoming more physically active as being unable to do so without medical help could lead to unnecessary surgery, drug treatments and other interventions that come with side effects and complications.

One would hope that this isn't the case, but I think it's complicated. Your doctor can only do so much to alter your behavior, and diet pills, to use just one example, haven't delivered much.

[Hodor knows]

Humans don't have free will, ergo obesity is a disease? That's a perfectly fine statement, and I agree.

Not exactly, wiseguy. People make a choice to eat(if they are lucky enough). A person cannot be obese without fuel. The body does not make fat out of thin air. No matter how difficult it can be, no matter how deeply rooted the obsession, obesity is still a choice.

I wish obesity was a disease so it would spread to every starving person on Earth.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

I don't think that we can assume, a priori, that it is a helpful thing. Perhaps, but they hardly even teach nutrition in medical school.

I'll quote something from the Time article I linked on page 1:

One would hope that this isn't the case, but I think it's complicated. Your doctor can only do so much to alter your behavior, and diet pills, to use just one example, haven't delivered much.

I would hope that help comes in multiple forms that include physical and mental considerations. Like has been mentioned several times, it is a complicated issue and not always with just one cause. I never meant to imply help come in the form of a magical pill.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Not exactly, wiseguy. People make a choice to eat(if they are lucky enough). A person cannot be obese without fuel. The body does not make fat out of thin air. No matter how difficult it can be, no matter how deeply rooted the obsession, obesity is still a choice.

I wish obesity was a disease so it would spread to every starving person on Earth.

So is drinking alcohol, yet it has been declared a disease.

[MercenaryChef]

Not exactly, wiseguy. People make a choice to eat(if they are lucky enough). A person cannot be obese without fuel. The body does not make fat out of thin air. No matter how difficult it can be, no matter how deeply rooted the obsession, obesity is still a choice.

I wish obesity was a disease so it would spread to every starving person on Earth.

i wish critical thinking were a disease and you were patient zero.

[Hodor knows]

So is drinking alcohol, yet it has been declared a disease.

And I think that is silly as well. It's as if declaring something a disease immediately releases people from accountability. It can only make people weaker, less able/willing to control themselves.

[Hodor knows]

i wish critical thinking were a disease and you were patient zero.

Thanks

[Guest]

I would hope that help comes in multiple forms that include physical and mental considerations. Like has been mentioned several times, it is a complicated issue and not always with just one cause. I never meant to imply help come in the form of a magical pill.

No problem. I wasn't thinking that you were saying that.

I completely agree that it is complicated.

So a lot of folks have heard about Gary Taubes who wrote Good Calories, Bad Calories. Well, he and Peter Attia have founded a new organization that is going to be devoted to getting better nutritional research done. Attia is a Stanford-trained doctor, and strikes me as brilliant and empathetic. I will be curious what he says about this.

[Sci-2]

I don't think that we can assume, a priori, that it is a helpful thing. Perhaps, but they hardly even teach nutrition in medical school.

And perhaps this will shift the view of the medical profession so that nutrition is taught in medical school. Or, at minimum, the treatment of obesity requires the assistance of a nutritionist in addition to a physician and possibly a psychiatrist.

I'm mildly amused that so many people seem willing to trust in human willpower. As if this wasn't a finite resource that likely varies from person to person, with an efficacy that's likely situational.

That the medical profession might initially treat the disease of obesity with over prescription does not make the acknowledgement of reality a bad thing.

I wish obesity was a disease so it would spread to every starving person on Earth.

This is an argument in bad faith. Unless you're willing to suggest addiction, depression, and any other mental illness is a choice.

[Hodor knows]

This is an argument in bad faith. Unless you're willing to suggest addiction, depression, and any other mental illness is a choice.

There are plenty of obese people who are none of those things.

[Fragile Bird]

And I think that is silly as well. It's as if declaring something a disease immediately releases people from accountability. It can only make people weaker, less able/willing to control themselves.

Well, you would have to be obese first, before you were found to have the disease, right? So would this not make doctors take weight issues more seriously (most do) so as to take more action when the person is merely overweight (ie BMI from 25 to <30) as opposed to obese (BMI >30)? If disease prevention is an important part of a doctor's role, naming obesity a disease moves the issue up in importance, no?

[straits]

I don't see how you come to that conclusion, please explain.

This is the conclusion:

I think it more likely people might seek professional help to deal with the obesity.

These professionals aren't currently well equipped to deal with obesity, or it wouldn't be a rising issue. I think this would lead to a stagnating condition in the obese patient. Though I agree that its status as disease would lead towards more focused research and subsequently, more effective treatment.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

This is the conclusion:

These professionals aren't currently well equipped to deal with obesity, or it wouldn't be a rising issue. I think this would lead to a stagnating condition in the obese patient. Though I agree that its status as disease would lead towards more focused research and subsequently, more effective treatment.

Which professionals aren't equipped?

Nutritionist? Psychologist? Doctors who monitor and treat the related health issues?

[straits]

Which professionals aren't equipped?

Nutritionist? Psychologist? Doctors who monitor and treat the related health issues?

Ah, they're equipped?

How's that working out for the masses?

[Hodor knows]

Well, you would have to be obese first, before you were found to have the disease, right? So would this not make doctors take weight issues more seriously (most do) so as to take more action when the person is merely overweight (ie BMI from 25 to <30) as opposed to obese (BMI >30)? If disease prevention is an important part of a doctor's role, naming obesity a disease moves the issue up in importance, no?

I see what you are saying. But, to me, obesity as the cause of many other problems or diseases does not make it a disease, nor does it minimize it's importance. We have to do everything we can to control the problem of obesity for the patients themselves and also the strain they will put on the healthcare system. We do need to help people with this problem, but I hate the idea that people are unable to help themselves. That's my concern.