THE O WORD: WHY THE FOCUS ON OBESITY IS HARMFUL TO COMMUNITY HEALTH

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If you scanned through the newspaper this morning, you probably saw the “O” word.  In fact, lately, you’ve probably heard it on television, at the office or in line at the grocery store.  The “O” word - obesity - seems to be everywhere.   Plainly, there is plenty to say on the topic of obesity. Researchers debate both the number of people who are obese and the number who have died from obesity as an underlying cause.  While diet experts deliver dire warnings about the dangers of obesity, some food industry lobbyists proclaim it all as “hype.”  Hidden in this confusing rhetoric is an important message that many will find startling: while there are real concerns related to overweight, our single-minded focus on obesity may be harmful to our health.

Before continuing, it is important to be abundantly clear: obesity is far from hype. The truth is that despite the controversies surrounding the number of deaths attributable to obesity, it is deadly serious. We know that many people are eating too much and exercising too little.  Furthermore, people can and do die from obesity-related chronic diseases, and obesity can be significant contributor to decreased quality of life. 

However, the persistent drumbeat of “obesity” oversimplifies a complex issue.  It places blame squarely on the shoulders of the individual, without taking into account the influence of where people live, work and play on their eating and exercise habits.  In this sense, the “O” word discourages us from focusing on community changes that could make significant, lasting improvements to citizens’ nutrition and fitness – changes such as better access to affordable produce and improved streets and parks.

Prevention Institute recently published, The O Word: Why the Focus on Obesity is Harmful to Community Health, in the September issue of Californian Journal of Health Promotion 2005 that sheds light on the five unintended consequences of our focus on “obesity”.

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