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IJE Advance Access originally published online on December 8, 2005
International Journal of Epidemiology 2006 35(1):67-69; doi:10.1093/ije/dyi256
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2005; all rights reserved.

Commentary

Commentary: There is a public health crisis—its not fat on the body but fat in the mind and the fat of profits

Susie Orbach

LSE, Department of Sociology, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK. E-mail: susieorbach@blueyonder.co.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Campos et al.1 persuasively rebut the claims of what Alicia Mundy2 calls ‘Obesity Inc’. These are those industries and the supporting media structures, which would have us believe that Obesity, with a capital O, is at epidemic proportions and is swamping our health budgets; that obesity and overweight are indicators for hastened mortality; that higher than average adiposity is a direct cause of nefarious, dangerous diseases; and that long-term weight loss is beneficial and achievable.

The war on obesity is clearly misguided on scientific and statistical grounds. So the question is, why are the ideas associated with it, so compelling? Why do we believe that obesity and overweight are bad for us? How have these two words, fat and overweight, taken on the weight of moral disapproval? How has fat and overweight become demonized? What are the more hidden and less recognized consequences of this belief system, including the . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   How has fat become demonized?
 

   The export of body hatred
 

   The disturbance of eating
 

   The reproduction of troubled eating
 

   Conclusion
 

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