Is obesity a disease or a lifestyle choice? | The Tylt

Scott Kahan, Medical Director at the STOP Obesity Alliance and Director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness, argues that many diseases are lifestyle-related, but unlike heart disease or diabetes, overweight people are shamed and blamed. 

Many physicians and health researchers argue that treating obesity as a personal failing is both medically inaccurate and getting us nowhere.

Enough with the judgments. Not everyone in America has control over their lifestyle; access to healthy food, exercise, and information around nutrition has become a privilege. Stigmatizing obesity as a personal failing only compounds the problem.

Others disagree, and say Americans just need to eat less and exercise more.

And some people distinguish between obese children (obesity has even worse health outcomes for kids than it does for adults)and obese adults, saying that overweight adults have many more choices at their disposal than kids do.

Others speak out harshly against the fat acceptance movement, saying it's normalizing a destructive condition.

There are many factors that contribute to obesity beyond personal choice. 

Some people want obesity categorized as an eating disorder or an addiction.

Others in the fat acceptance movement think categorizing obesity as a disease pathologizes it.