thesis statement on obesity

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How To Write A Strong Obesity Research Paper?

Table of Contents

Obesity is such a disease when the percent of body fat has negative effects on a person’s health. The topic is very serious as obesity poisons the lives of many teens, adults and even children around the whole world.

Can you imagine that according to WHO (World Health Organization) there were 650 million obese adults and 13% of all 18-year-olds were also obese in 2016? And scientists claim that the number of them is continually growing.

There are many reasons behind the problem, but no matter what they are, lots of people suffer from the wide spectrum of consequences of obesity.

Basic guidelines on obesity research paper

Writing any research paper requires sticking to an open-and-shut structure. It has three basic parts: Introduction, Main Body, and Conclusion.

According to the general rules, you start with the introduction where you provide your reader with some background information and give brief definitions of terms used in the text. Next goes the thesis of your paper.

The thesis is the main idea of all the research you’ve done written in a precise and simple manner, usually in one sentence.

The main body is where you present the statements and ideas which disclose the topic of your research.

In conclusion, you sum up all the text and make a derivation.

How to write an obesity thesis statement?

As I’ve already noted, the thesis is the main idea of your work. What is your position? What do you think about the issue? What is that you want to prove in your essay?

Answer one of those questions briefly and precisely.

Here are some examples of how to write a thesis statement for an obesity research paper:

• The main cause of obesity is determined to be surfeit and unhealthy diet.
• Obesity can be prevented no matter what genetic penchants are.
• Except for being a problem itself, obesity may result in diabetes, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and many others.
• Obesity is a result of fast-growing civilization development.
• Not only do obese people have health issues but also they have troubles when it comes to socialization.

20 top-notch obesity research paper topics

Since the problem of obesity is very multifaceted and has a lot of aspects to discover, you have to define a topic you want to cover in your essay.

How about writing a fast food and obesity research paper or composing a topic in a sphere of fast food? Those issues gain more and more popularity nowadays.

A couple of other decent ideas at your service.

• The consequences of obesity.
• Obesity as a mental problem.
• Obesity and social standards: the problem of proper self-fulfilment.
• Overweight vs obesity: the use of BMI (Body Mass Index).
• The problem of obesity in your country.
• Methods of prevention the obesity.
• Is lack of self-control a principal factor of becoming obese?
• The least obvious reasons for obesity.
• Obesity: the history of the disease.
• The effect of mass media in augmentation of the obesity level.
• The connection between depression and obesity.
• The societal stigma of obese people.
• The role of legislation in reducing the level of obesity.
• Obesity and cultural aspect.
• Who has the biggest part of the responsibility for obesity: persons themselves, local authorities, government, mass media or somebody else?
• Why are obesity rates constantly growing?
• Who is more prone to obesity, men or women? Why?
• Correlation between obesity and life expectancy.
• The problem of discrimination of the obese people at the workplace.
• Could it be claimed that such movements as body-positive and feminism encourage obesity to a certain extent?

Best sample of obesity research paper outline

An outline is a table of contents which is made at the very beginning of your writing. It helps structurize your thoughts and create a plan for the whole piece in advance.

…Need a sample?

Here is one! It fits the paper on obesity in the U.S.

Introduction

• Hook sentence.
• Thesis statement.
• Transition to Main Body.
• America’s modern plague: obesity.
• Statistics and obesity rates in America.
• Main reasons of obesity in America.
• Social, cultural and other aspects involved in the problem of obesity.
• Methods of preventing and treating obesity in America.
• Transition to Conclusion.
• Unexpected twist or a final argument.
• Food for thought.

Specifics of childhood obesity research paper

A separate question in the problem of obesity is overweight children.

It is singled out since there are quite a lot of differences in clinical pictures, reasons and ways of treatment of an obese adult and an obese child.

Writing a child obesity research paper requires a more attentive approach to the analysis of its causes and examination of family issues. There’s a need to consider issues like eating habits, daily routine, predispositions and other.

Top 20 childhood obesity research paper topics

We’ve gathered the best ideas for your paper on childhood obesity. Take one of those to complete your best research!

• What are the main causes of childhood obesity in your country?
• Does obesity in childhood increase the chance of obesity in adulthood?
• Examine whether a child’s obesity affects academic performance.
• Are parents always guilty if their child is obese?
• What methods of preventing childhood obesity are used in your school?
• What measures the government can take to prevent children’s obesity?
• Examine how childhood obesity can result in premature development of chronic diseases.
• Are obese or overweight parents more prone to have an obese child?
• Why childhood obesity rates are constantly growing around the whole world?
• How to encourage children to lead a healthy style of life?
• Are there more junk and fast food options for children nowadays? How is that related to childhood obesity rates?
• What is medical treatment for obese children?
• Should fast food chains have age limits for their visitors?
• How should parents bring up their child in order to prevent obesity?
• The problem of socializing in obese children.
• Examine the importance of a proper healthy menu in schools’ cafeterias.
• Should the compulsory treatment of obese children be started up?
• Excess of care as the reason for childhood obesity.
• How can parents understand that their child is obese?
• How can the level of wealth impact the chance of a child’s obesity?

Childhood obesity outline example

As the question of childhood obesity is a specific one, it would differ from the outline on obesity we presented previously.

Here is a sample you might need. The topic covers general research on child obesity.

• The problem of childhood obesity.
• World’s childhood obesity rates.
• How to diagnose the disease.
• Predisposition and other causes of child obesity.
• Methods of treatment for obese children.
• Preventive measures to avoid a child’s obesity.

On balance…

The topic of obesity is a long-standing one. It has numerous aspects to discuss, sides to examine, and data to analyze.

Any topic you choose might result in brilliant work.

How can you achieve that?

Follow the basic requirements, plan the content beforehand, and be genuinely interested in the topic.

Option 2. Choose free time over struggle on the paper. We’ve got dozens of professional writers ready to help you out. Order your best paper within several seconds and enjoy your free time. We’ll cover you up!

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Obesity Essay

Last updated on: Feb 9, 2023

Obesity Essay: A Complete Guide and Topics

By: Nova A.

11 min read

Reviewed By: Jacklyn H.

Published on: Aug 31, 2021

Are you assigned to write an essay about obesity? The first step is to define obesity.

The obesity epidemic is a major issue facing our country right now. It's complicated- it could be genetic or due to your environment, but either way, there are ways that you can fix it!

Learn all about what causes weight gain and get tips on how you can get healthy again.

On this Page

What is Obesity

What is obesity? Obesity and BMI (body mass index) are both tools of measurement that are used by doctors to assess body fat according to the height, age, and gender of a person. If the BMI is between 25 to 29.9, that means the person has excess weight and body fat.

If the BMI exceeds 30, that means the person is obese. Obesity is a condition that increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, and other medical conditions like metabolic syndrome, arthritis, and even some types of cancer.

Obesity Definition

Obesity is defined by the World Health Organization as an accumulation of abnormal and excess body fat that comes with several risk factors. It is measured by the body mass index BMI, body weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of a person’s height (in meters).

Obesity in America

Obesity is on the verge of becoming an epidemic as 1 in every 3 Americans can be categorized as overweight and obese. Currently, America is an obese country, and it continues to get worse.

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

Causes of obesity

Do you see any obese or overweight people around you?

You likely do.

This is because fast-food chains are becoming more and more common, people are less active, and fruits and vegetables are more expensive than processed foods, thus making them less available to the majority of society. These are the primary causes of obesity.

Obesity is a disease that affects all age groups, including children and elderly people.

Now that you are familiar with the topic of obesity, writing an essay won’t be that difficult for you.

How to Write an Obesity Essay

The format of an obesity essay is similar to writing any other essay. If you need help regarding how to write an obesity essay, it is the same as writing any other essay.

Obesity Essay Introduction

The trick is to start your essay with an interesting and catchy sentence. This will help attract the reader's attention and motivate them to read further. You don’t want to lose the reader’s interest in the beginning and leave a bad impression, especially if the reader is your teacher.

A hook sentence is usually used to open the introductory paragraph of an essay in order to make it interesting. When writing an essay on obesity, the hook sentence can be in the form of an interesting fact or statistic.

Head on to this detailed article on hook examples to get a better idea.

Once you have hooked the reader, the next step is to provide them with relevant background information about the topic. Don’t give away too much at this stage or bombard them with excess information that the reader ends up getting bored with. Only share information that is necessary for the reader to understand your topic.

Next, write a strong thesis statement at the end of your essay, be sure that your thesis identifies the purpose of your essay in a clear and concise manner. Also, keep in mind that the thesis statement should be easy to justify as the body of your essay will revolve around it.

Body Paragraphs

The details related to your topic are to be included in the body paragraphs of your essay. You can use statistics, facts, and figures related to obesity to reinforce your thesis throughout your essay.

If you are writing a cause-and-effect obesity essay, you can mention different causes of obesity and how it can affect a person’s overall health. The number of body paragraphs can increase depending on the parameters of the assignment as set forth by your instructor.

Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence that is the crux of its content. It is necessary to write an engaging topic sentence as it helps grab the reader’s interest. Check out this detailed blog on writing a topic sentence to further understand it.

End your essay with a conclusion by restating your research and tying it to your thesis statement. You can also propose possible solutions to control obesity in your conclusion. Make sure that your conclusion is short yet powerful.

Obesity Essay Examples

Essay about Obesity (PDF)

Childhood Obesity Essay (PDF)

Obesity in America Essay (PDF)

Essay about Obesity Cause and Effects (PDF)

Satire Essay on Obesity (PDF) 

Obesity Argumentative Essay (PDF)

Obesity Essay Topics

Choosing a topic might seem an overwhelming task as you may have many ideas for your assignment. Brainstorm different ideas and narrow them down to one, quality topic.

If you need some examples to help you with your essay topic related to obesity, dive into this article and choose from the list of obesity essay topics.

Childhood Obesity

As mentioned earlier, obesity can affect any age group, including children. Obesity can cause several future health problems as children age.

Here are a few topics you can choose from and discuss for your childhood obesity essay:

• What are the causes of increasing obesity in children?
• Obese parents may be at risk for having children with obesity.
• What is the ratio of obesity between adults and children?
• What are the possible treatments for obese children?
• Are there any social programs that can help children with combating obesity?
• Has technology boosted the rate of obesity in children?
• Are children spending more time on gadgets instead of playing outside?
• Schools should encourage regular exercises and sports for children.
• How can sports and other physical activities protect children from becoming obese?
• Can childhood abuse be a cause of obesity among children?
• What is the relationship between neglect in childhood and obesity in adulthood?
• Does obesity have any effect on the psychological condition and well-being of a child?
• Are electronic medical records effective in diagnosing obesity among children?
• Obesity can affect the academic performance of your child.
• Do you believe that children who are raised by a single parent can be vulnerable to obesity?
• You can promote interesting exercises to encourage children.
• What is the main cause of obesity, and why is it increasing with every passing day?
• Schools and colleges should work harder to develop methodologies to decrease childhood obesity.
• The government should not allow schools and colleges to include sweet or fatty snacks as a part of their lunch.
• If a mother is obese, can it affect the health of the child?
• Children who gain weight frequently can develop chronic diseases.

Obesity Argumentative Essay Topics

Do you want to write an argumentative essay on the topic of obesity?

The following list can help you with that!

Here are some examples you can choose from for your argumentative essay about obesity:

• Can vegetables and fruits decrease the chances of obesity?
• Should you go for surgery to overcome obesity?
• Are there any harmful side effects?
• Can obesity be related to the mental condition of an individual?
• Are parents responsible for controlling obesity in childhood?
• What are the most effective measures to prevent the increase in the obesity rate?
• Why is the obesity rate increasing in the United States?
• Can the lifestyle of a person be a cause of obesity?
• Does the economic situation of a country affect the obesity rate?
• How is obesity considered an international health issue?
• Can technology and gadgets affect obesity rates?
• What can be the possible reasons for obesity in a school?
• How can we address the issue of obesity?
• Is obesity a chronic disease?
• Is obesity a major cause of heart attacks?
• Are the junk food chains causing an increase in obesity?
• Do nutritional programs help in reducing the obesity rate?
• How can the right type of diet help with obesity?
• Why should we encourage sports activities in schools and colleges?
• Can obesity affect a person’s behavior?

Health Related Topics for Research Paper

If you are writing a research paper, you can explain the cause and effect of obesity.

Here are a few topics that link to the cause and effects of obesity.Review the literature of previous articles related to obesity. Describe the ideas presented in the previous papers.

• Can family history cause obesity in future generations?
• Can we predict obesity through genetic testing?
• What is the cause of the increasing obesity rate?
• Do you think the increase in fast-food restaurants is a cause of the rising obesity rate?
• Is the ratio of obese women greater than obese men?
• Why are women more prone to be obese as compared to men?
• Stress can be a cause of obesity. Mention the reasons how mental health can be related to physical health.
• Is urban life a cause of the increasing obesity rate?
• People from cities are prone to be obese as compared to people from the countryside.
• How obesity affects the life expectancy of people? What are possible solutions to decrease the obesity rate?
• Do family eating habits affect or trigger obesity?
• How do eating habits affect the health of an individual?
• How can obesity affect the future of a child?
• Obese children are more prone to get bullied in high school and college.
• Why should schools encourage more sports and exercise for children?

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Topics for Essay on Obesity as a Problem

Do you think a rise in obesity rate can affect the economy of a country?

Here are some topics for your assistance regarding your economics related obesity essay.

• Does socioeconomic status affect the possibility of obesity in an individual?
• Analyze the film and write a review on “Fed Up” – an obesity epidemic.
• Share your reviews on the movie “The Weight of The Nation.”
• Should we increase the prices of fast food and decrease the prices of fruits and vegetables to decrease obesity?
• Do you think healthy food prices can be a cause of obesity?
• Describe what measures other countries have taken in order to control obesity?
• The government should play an important role in controlling obesity. What precautions should they take?
• Do you think obesity can be one of the reasons children get bullied?
• Do obese people experience any sort of discrimination or inappropriate behavior due to their weight?
• Are there any legal protections for people who suffer from discrimination due to their weight?
• Which communities have a higher percentage of obesity in the United States?
• Discuss the side effects of the fast-food industry and their advertisements on children.
• Describe how the increasing obesity rate has affected the economic condition of the United States.
• What is the current percentage of obesity all over the world? Is the obesity rate increasing with every passing day?
• Why is the obesity rate higher in the United States as compared to other countries?
• Do Asians have a greater percentage of obese people as compared to Europe?
• Does the cultural difference affect the eating habits of an individual?
• Obesity and body shaming.
• Why is a skinny body considered to be ideal? Is it an effective way to reduce the obesity rate?

Obesity Solution Essay Topics

With all the developments in medicine and technology, we still don’t have exact measures to treat obesity.

Here are some insights you can discuss in your essay:

• How do obese people suffer from metabolic complications?
• Describe the fat distribution in obese people.
• Is type 2 diabetes related to obesity?
• Are obese people more prone to suffer from diabetes in the future?
• How are cardiac diseases related to obesity?
• Can obesity affect a woman’s childbearing time phase?
• Describe the digestive diseases related to obesity.
• Obesity may be genetic.
• Obesity can cause a higher risk of suffering a heart attack.
• What are the causes of obesity? What health problems can be caused if an individual suffers from obesity?
• What are the side effects of surgery to overcome obesity?
• Which drugs are effective when it comes to the treatment of obesity?
• Is there a difference between being obese and overweight?
• Can obesity affect the sociological perspective of an individual?
• Explain how an obesity treatment works.
• How can the government help people to lose weight and improve public health?

Writing an essay is a challenging yet rewarding task. All you need is to be organized and clear when it comes to academic writing.

• Choose a topic you would like to write on.
• Organize your thoughts.
• Pen down your ideas.
• Compose a perfect essay that will help you ace your subject.
• Proofread and revise your paper.

Were the topics useful for you? We hope so!

However, if you are still struggling to write your paper, you can pick any of the topics from this list, and our essay writer will help you craft a perfect essay.

Are you struggling to write an effective essay?

If writing an essay is the actual problem and not just the topic, you can always hire an essay writing service for your help. Essay experts at 5StarEssays can help compose an impressive essay within your deadline.

All you have to do is contact us. We will get started on your paper while you can sit back and relax.

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Marketing, Thesis

As a Digital Content Strategist, Nova Allison has eight years of experience in writing both technical and scientific content. With a focus on developing online content plans that engage audiences, Nova strives to write pieces that are not only informative but captivating as well.

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The causes of obesity: an in-depth review

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Childhood Obesity: Causes/Solutions Research Paper

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Thesis Statement

Introduction, statistics about the problem, causes of childhood obesity, steps the government should take to eliminate the problem, works cited, note card i, note card ii.

Childhood obesity is one of the biggest developing health problems associated with the things such as types of foods that children consume, genetic factors, addiction to highly pleasurable foods, and diminished physical activities.

Therefore, failure of the government to take precautionary measures such as controlling the foods served to children, introduction of BMI checking to schoolchildren, and planning of anti-obesity campaigns amongst others will automatically threaten the health of children and that of the population of the nation at large.

Obesity is the development of more weight than the body of an individual is supposed to carry. Ideally, the body of a person should carry weight within a certain range according to the height of the given individual. Much weight for a specific height is deemed overweight and consequently underweight for a much less weight for a specific height.

Therefore, childhood obesity is the development of more weight, which is mostly fats, more than the height can accommodate. It is usually 20% more body fat weight in a child. Childhood obesity is a serious health problem to society due to the frequency of obesity cases that are being reported of late.

The greatest concern brought about by childhood obesity is that it has been identified as a precursor to certain adulthood ailments if not controlled. Thus, controlling it is a way of eliminating some adulthood ailments. As Riley reveals, childhood obesity leads to such ailments as; “hypertension, respiratory ailments, orthopedic problems, depression, type two diabetes, and high cholesterol among others” (395).

According to Green and Riley, childhood obesity has increased threefold since the year 1981. Sixteen per cent percentage of the population of children between the ages of 6 and 19 years suffer from obesity (917).

In the United States, 23% of children coming from poor families are likely to suffer from obesity compared to 14% of those who come from families that are doing well socially and economically (Riley 395). Obesity has led to a rise in the cost of healthcare for the national government with obesity cases consuming up to 71million dollars in terms of treatment between the years 2008-2009.

According to statistics, there has been a 50% increase in obese cases among children of 7-12 years during the years 1991-1998. Eyler finds that the United States of America government has had to come up with policies and legislation that would reverse the trend by the year 2015 (2294). This effort is an indicator to the seriousness of the problem and the concern that the government has towards it. What causes childhood obesity?

The Foods in the Market

One of the biggest causes of childhood obesity is the type of food a child eats. Following the increase in populations and the decrease in the land for agricultural production, scientists have come up with ways of producing high yields of crops on remarkably small pieces of land for feeding the populations. Most of these foods are produced using biotechnology and bioengineering, which lead to high crop yields. Most crops produced using the methods have been cited as sources of obesity upon producing food from them.

High yield crop production involves altering of the genetic makeup of the crops. When consumed by children and or other people, the effects are directly transferred to them. Animals that used as food to human beings are usually fed on foods with high hormones to spur quick growth of the animals. When children feed on products from these animals, the hormones are directly transferred to them thus triggering a faster development of their cells and body tissues hence leading to obesity.

Genetic Factors

Genetic factors can also be attributed to be a cause of childhood obesity that happens when a child grows bigger than the actual size, and then it is cited as a family trend. Some people are naturally grown. This condition sometimes inherited and passes from one generation to the other.

The study further revealed that there is a 75% chance of children being obese if their parents were obese and a 75% chance of children being thin or slim if their parents were thin. This fact is a sure indicator that obesity is a genetic factor that is passed on from parents to their children. The situation can be controlled if the children engage in activities that can enable them burn the extra calories and fats.

Addiction to highly pleasurable foods

According to Pretlow, addiction to highly pleasurable foods can be one of the biggest causes of obesity in children between the age of 5years to 19years (297). Most of these highly pleasurable foods are extraordinarily high in calories thus leading to extremely fast weight gain in children and young adults.

The advent of fast food outlets has exacerbated the problem because most of the foods sold in fast food outlets are highly pleasurable besides containing excess calories. Addiction to these kinds of foods can be equated to some extent to the addiction found in substances like drugs. Addiction to highly pleasurable foods thus leads the child eating more and more of the food. Because they are not in a position to burn the loads of calories gained by their bodies, they tend to begin piling more and more fats in their bodies.

Diminished physical activities

Childhood obesity can be attributed to diminished physical activities among children. Most children nowadays do not engage in physical activities as compared to the past. In the past, most parents would engage their children in physical activities like doing household chores while going out to play at the same time as a way of engaging in fun. That trend has changed dramatically in the recent past with most children engaging in activities that are not energy sapping.

The trend has changed with the introduction of computer games in society. Most children have ended up becoming couch potatoes because they spend almost all of their playing time playing computer games, which are addictive in nature. The increase in television programs has also led to children getting addicted to watching television. Reilly finds that television companies have come up with tailor-made programs for children thus leading to television addiction (395).

Controlling the food served in schools

The government should come up with a policy guideline on what types of food can be served in school kitchens. Nutritionists should recommend the foods because they have the right calorie contents for children at specific ages.

This campaign will see the government prepare a school feeding diet program that is based on healthy eating habits, which are aimed at reducing obesity and hence eliminating it in the end. An observation by Wojcicki and Heyman contends that an awareness program starting from schools is a sure way of controlling obesity (1630).

Introduction of BMI check in schools

The government should introduce a regular body mass index check to all children in schools as a way of checking and regulating the problem. A regular body mass index check will make the children aware of their weight status and the need to keep healthy bodies and lifestyles.

Such checks can also be used for recommending specific physical activity programs to the children as a way of enabling them burn the excess fats that have accumulated in their bodies. Children growing up with the awareness of the right body mass index will be able to control overweight problems when they occur in the future thus ensuring a healthy nation.

Develop a nationwide anti obesity campaign

The government should develop a nationwide campaign that will see the awareness levels of the population increased to such an extent that everyone in society is aware of the problem. Huang observes that a nationwide campaign to eliminate obesity will enable parents bring up their children with awareness of the obesity problem (148).

Most parents are usually unaware of the obesity problem in their children thus ending up not taking the right steps to stop it. The society today is made up of parents who spend a lot of their time chasing their careers than taking care of their children and hence the need to remind them of their responsibility.

Childhood obesity is a complex problem that cannot be easily wished away due to the many different elements that cause to it. It needs a multipronged approach that will control it. The problem with obesity is that it cannot be eliminated. Thus, there is a need for the government to put measures as discussed above to minimize it as much as possible.

Eyler, Army et al. “Patterns and predictions of state childhood obesity legislation in United States: 2006-2009.” American Journal of Public health 102.12 (2012): 2294- 2302. Print.

Green, Gregory, and Riley Clarence. “Physical activity and childhood obesity: Strategies and solutions for schools and parents.” Education 132.4 (2012): 915-920. Print.

Huang, Terry. “Prevention and treatment: Solutions beyond the individual.” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (2007): 148-149. Print.

Pretlow, Robert. Addiction to highly pleasurable food as a cause of the childhood obesity epidemic: A qualitative internet study . Washington D.C: Routledge, 2008. Print.

Riley, John. “Childhood obesity: An overview.” Children & Society 21.5 (2007): 390-396. Print.

Wojcicki, Janet, and Melvin Heyman. “Reducing childhood obesity by eliminating 100% fruit juice.” American Journal of Public Health 102.9 (2012): 1630-1633. Print.

Summary Note Card:

Following the rising impacts that obesity has had on the US citizens, leave alone the children, there has been a call to the government to pass bills that emphasize the need to reduce the danger caused by this fatal disease. Patterns and Predictors of Enactment of State Childhood Obesity Legislation in the United States: 2006-2009 points out the efforts that the US is making to curb the rising trend by 2015. The article reveals how the US has made it a priority to pass bills that address needs of the obese people as a way of ensuring that they are not left to die of the disease when measures can actually be implemented to rescue them and the US at large.

Quotation Note Card:

Eyler et al state, “…the number of bills introduced from 2006 to 2009 with obesity prevention content is encouraging, as is the enactment rate of these bills.”

Eyler, Army et al. “Patterns and predictions of state childhood obesity legislation in United States: 2006-2009.” American Journal of Public health 102.12 (2012): 2298. Print.

Paraphrase Note Card:

According to Eyler et al, the period 2006-2008 has been characterized by tremendous efforts by the US government to publish many bills that specifically touch on the issue of obesity. The findings indicate that the earlier on observed obesity trend in the US will be changing with time with fewer reports of obesity cases.

Despite the many efforts put in place to fight obesity, it is alarming to find out how obesity prevalence is rising in the UK and the US specifically among children and adolescents.

This revelation indicates that the current strategies used to fight the disease do not have a well-crafted message to persuade the children and adolescents to change their eating habits and or engage in strenuous activities to help rid themselves of the many useless calories whose accumulation has led to their obese nature. Hence, there is room for more studies on the best strategies to use to reach the affected children and adolescent if at all eliminating obesity is the goal of both the UK and the US.

“Successful prevention of obesity in future will require good examples or models of interventions which have achieved objectively measured and sustained behavior change”

Riley, John. “Childhood obesity: An overview.” Children & Society 21.5 (2007): 395. Print.

Due to the observed failure of the current strategies to help the obese children and adolescents, there has been a call for future research to incorporate interventions that will have the capacity to alter the observed high rates of obesity among the US and the UK children and adolescents.

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Media and Its Influence on Obesity

Fatima cody stanford.

1 Harvard Medical School (HMS), Boston, MA, 02115

2 Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Weight Center, Boston, MA, 02114

3 MGH Internal Medicine-Gastroenterology and Pediatrics Endocrinology, Boston, MA, 02114

Zujaja Tauqeer

Theodore k. kyle.

4 ConscienHealth, Pittsburgh, PA 15241

To review How the media frames obesity and the effect it has upon on public perceptions.

Recent Findings

The scientific and public health understanding of obesity increasingly points away from individual behaviors and toward medical and community factors, but diffusion of this knowledge is slow. Growing awareness of the importance of body positivity is driving attention to the harms of weight bias and fat shaming.

Health science reporting related to obesity, nutrition, and physical activity tends to perpetuate myths and misunderstandings. Moving forward, greater attention to accurate messages about obesity and evidence-based interventions will be essential for progress to reduce suffering and the impact on public health from this chronic disease.

Introduction: Understanding Obesity as a Disease

In 2013, the American Medical Association (AMA), the largest organized medical society in the United States, recognized obesity as a complex, chronic disease which requires medical attention.( 1 ) Despite this acknowledgement, the general public and the medical community have been slow to embrace obesity as a disease. Many still hold the belief that obesity is solely under personal control. As more research into obesity emerges, obesity is ever more clearly a complex, multifactorial disorder. It presents unique issues for each affected person. An increasing number of research, medical, and advocacy organizations recognize that obesity is a complex, chronic disease. With this recognition, a slow but evident shift is progressing to work toward greater access to care, reduced weight bias and stigma, and better research support for the prevention and treatment of obesity.

The World Obesity Federation has had a long history of addressing obesity as a disease. That history dates to a 1997 joint World Health Organization-International Obesity Task Force (WHO-IOTF) Consultation on Obesity. They continue their work with international non-profit health organizations to advocate for food, nutrition, and physical activity at local, governmental, and intergovernmental levels.( 2 ) In addition, they support obesity research and advocate for dissemination of best practice interventions to meet the needs of people with obesity. Three primary reasons support the World Obesity Federation approach to obesity as a disease: 1) a diagnosis of obesity can help people cope with weight concerns to reduce internalized stigma or the belief that their problems are self-inflicted and shameful, 2) classification of obesity as a disease to help change the public discourse about blame for the condition, and 3) recognition of obesity as a disease may have benefits in countries where health service costs are funded from insurance schemes that limit payments for non-disease conditions or risk factors.( 2 )

In order to explain obesity as a disease from an epidemiologic perspective, Bray and colleagues define food as the primary agent which produces the disease of obesity in the human host.( 3 ) In their paper, they explain that food abundance, low levels of physical activity, and a myriad of other environmental factors interact with a genetically susceptible human to produce a positive energy balance, mostly in the form of fat, which is stored not only in enlarged fat cells but also in organs such as the liver. The enlarged fat cells and ectopic fat then secretes inflammatory, hormonal, and metabolic products to damage organs throughout the body.( 3 ) It is then presumed that the degree of obesity that a person has relates to the virulence of the environment and its interaction with the human host.

Obesity is no longer considered an epidemic because it has reached pandemic status throughout the developing world. However, the debate over whether to consider obesity a disease is not based on medical facts alone. It also takes into account a conceptional analysis of the situation.( 4 ) The philosophy of medicine employs two concepts of disease: the constructivist and naturalistic, but both of these concepts support obesity as a disease. As a result, it is important for persons who care for patients with obesity to recognize the chronic, progressive characteristics of the disease to ensure a model of care that supports the chronic nature of obesity and its co-morbidities is employed to ensure optimal care for this patient population.

In order to tackle the issues of childhood obesity, 43 cross-sector stakeholders participated in a conference supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight, and The Obesity Society (TOS) to improve the systems of care to advance implementation of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF) recommendations for childhood obesity.( 5 ) Their recommendation was that childhood obesity treatment should include provisions to provide or refer to intensive (e.g. >25 hours), multicomponent behavioral care. Expanded payment for these services will be necessary. They concluded that cross-sector collaboration is needed to ensure proper training of health professionals to treat childhood obesity with a unified approach to increase payments for delivery of obesity care.

Pharmacologic treatments for obesity are grossly underutilized, due to multiple factors, but one concern has been inadequate clinical guidelines. A consensus group including members from the Endocrine Society (ENDO), the European Society of Endocrinology, and The Obesity Society (TOS) developed guidelines for the pharmacologic treatment of obesity using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system to describe the strength of recommendations and the quality of evidence.( 6 ) For patients who have been unable to achieve a healthy weight with diet and exercise, weight loss medications serve as an adjunct to help improve weight status. In addition to knowing which medications may be utilized to reduce weight, it is important for clinicians to recognize that many commonly prescribed medications for other chronic disease processes such as mood disorders, diabetes, and hypertension may contribute to weight gain in an individual.

Finally, the 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS Guidelines for Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults presents another opportunity to guide care of patients with obesity. Their recommendations are: 1) identification of patients who need to lose weight, 2) counseling about the benefits of weight loss, 3) dietary therapy for weight loss, 4) lifestyle intervention and counseling, and 5) bariatric surgery.( 7 ) Despite these recommendations, concerns remain that the current physician workforce is not equipped with the proper education to treat patients with obesity secondary to the fact that physicians are not adequately trained in the etiology, pathophysiology, and management of obesity. Also, weight management treatments are not universally reimbursed.( 7 )

Body Positivity, Weight Bias, and Fat Shaming

Awareness in the United States of the importance of body positivity is growing and driving increased attention to the harms of weight bias and fat shaming. Weight bias is negative attitudes toward a person with excess weight or obesity. Fat shaming is behavior that humiliates someone judged to have excess weight. In her notable book Fat-Talk Nation , Susan Greenhalgh notes that cultural assumptions about body weight and health are often based on false, contested, or incomplete scientific ideas ( 8 ). Myths such as the idea that weight is under individual control, or that body mass index (BMI) is an accurate measure of weight status, or that disease status correlates with disease, all contribute to stereotypes about weight loss and obesity. These stereotypes can be harmful for people with overweight and obesity. Greenhalgh discusses the societal effort to police and shame individuals who are perceived to be fat. Medicine is implicated in this harmful environment for people with obesity, because ideas about health and weight often stem from moral judgments and cultural biases rather than scientific and medical knowledge. This problematic trend implicates healthcare practitioners just as much as the general public. ( 8 )

The impact of weight stigma can be medical, psychological, and social. Scientific literature is now beginning to reflect greater attention to this problem. Puhl and colleagues note that being the recipient of weight stigma increases the likelihood of engaging in binge-eating behaviors, disordered eating patterns, increased calorie intake, avoidance of exercise, and lower motivation for physical activity.( 9 ) In fact, the negative consequences of weight bias remain even when controlling for BMI and weight status. Similarly, a 2010 study in the journal Obesity Facts showed that the experience of weight stigma, irrespective of BMI, negatively affects individuals’ willingness to participate in physical activity. ( 10 ) The cumulative result is that people who experience instances of weight discrimination are 2.5 to 3 times more likely to develop or maintain obesity over time as compared to individuals who do not experience weight discrimination. Studies of over 6,000 adults from the Health and Retirement Study and of nearly 3,000 adults from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging have both found that experiencing weight discrimination results in increased odds of developing obesity and increases in weight and waist circumference, regardless of baseline BMI.( 11 , 12 )

The impact of weight bias on health has serious implications for the management of other medical conditions, since it is produces physiological increases in levels of cortisol, C-reactive protein, and blood pressure. ( 13 , 14 ) Considering the harms of elevated blood glucose and elevated blood pressure on patients with diabetes, these findings should raise concern about the medical harms of weight bias. Individuals who experience fat shaming have an increased risk of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, poor body image, substance abuse, and suicidality, and these effects remain even after controlling for BMI, obesity onset, sex, and age.( 9 ) Thus, it is the experience of bias and stigma, not merely obesity per se, that has been associated with health risks in these studies.

Where does this stigma present? It presents in the media, in homes, in workplaces, but also in clinics and hospitals. It can also present at a very young age.( 15 ) Weight bias among healthcare professionals has been well-documented and is beginning to be better understood. Sabin and colleagues found in a survey of over 2,000 physicians that weight bias is as pervasive among them as it is in the general public.( 16 ) The Implicit Association Test is a validated measure for implicit or unconscious biases against people with excess weight.( 17 , 18 ) Using this instrument, they found that medical doctors have a strong implicit anti-fat bias, and as with the general population, medical doctors have a strong preference for thin over heavier people. This bias manifests in the belief that people with overweight or obesity are to blame for laziness or lack of willpower that results in increased weight or noncompliance with treatment goals.( 9 ) These pervasive views have the potential to greatly harm the patient-provider alliance and in fact they can worsen the effort to manage obesity.

In a cross-sectional survey of 600 general practitioners in southeastern France, Bocquier and colleagues found that while 79% of surveyed physicians agreed that managing obesity-related problems was part of their job, over half (57.5%) felt that they did not manage these problems effectively, and a third considered their patients with overweight and obesity to be lazier and more self-indulgent than people of normal weight.( 19 ) These factors had important consequences for the medical management of obesity, which were exacerbated by the fact that only 6.7% of physicians were aware of the clinical guidelines for obesity management. In another robust survey of 100 primary care physicians, 100 endocrinologists, 70 cardiologists, and 30 bariatricians, researchers found no consensus among physicians on when to initiate weight loss medications; indeed, providers had unrealistic expectations with respect to weight loss medications and bariatric surgery or were unsure altogether.( 20 ) Evidence also suggests that physicians spend less time with persons with obesity, provide less education, and are more reluctant to perform certain screenings.( 9 )

People with obesity report that comments about their weight from healthcare providers make them reluctant to discuss weight concerns and degrade the quality of communication between patients and providers, especially for those patients who are from minority backgrounds.( 9 ) In a qualitative study of Australian adults living with type 2 diabetes mellitus, Browne and colleagues found that these individual experiences of stigma paralleled some of the themes of personal responsibility and character deficiencies highlighted above.( 21 ) Survey participants noted that they were blamed by others for their condition, subject to negative stereotyping and discrimination, and were therefore unable and unwilling to discuss their condition, including with healthcare professionals, while experiencing psychological distress. Less patient-centered care predicts lower patient adherence, less patient-provider trust, and worse patient outcomes.( 22 )

In the United States, the legal system has begun to consider the topic of weight-based discrimination, a practice which is permissible under federal law. It is interesting to note that while many Americans continue to attribute obesity to personal factors, there is simultaneously a high degree of public support for legislation to address risk factors that lead to obesity. This association has been probed in the literature on public attitudes toward obesity, which is discussed in the next section. Recent additions to the literature in obesity and fat studies reveal increasing support for potential legislative measures that would prohibit discrimination based on body weight in employment, make body weight a protected characteristic under civil rights laws, and accord disability protections for people with obesity. Puhl and colleagues found a significant trend toward increasing support for such measures in the US from 2011 to 2015. ( 23 )

Health Science Reporting and Public Understanding

As Greenlagh and others have noted, myths and misinformation about obesity, nutrition, and physical activity play a role in promoting weight stigma.( 8 ) Errors in scientific literature tend to become magnified in health science reporting on the topics of obesity, nutrition, and physical activity. Public ideas about health often rest on a foundation of scientifically incomplete knowledge, and these become the basis for cultural judgments about fatness and obesity.

In a comment piece published in Nature , Allison and colleagues spoke out about the problem of errors in the scientific literature from the perspective of researchers who work on obesity, nutrition, and energetics. ( 24 ) The authors noted their own experiences finding many factual and methodological errors in articles within their field – errors that had the potential to alter the conclusions reported in these papers. They also described how cumbersome and costly it can be to correct these errors once they are published. Given the public interest in obesity and nutrition research, it is troubling to consider how the generation of erroneous conclusions in scientific studies and the problem of correcting scientific errors in the literature post-publication impact scientific, medical, and lay understandings of these topics. For example, a study of childhood obesity prevention was retracted from Obesity because of unsubstantiated claims that a nutrition intervention prevented obesity. Authors re-published the same paper a year later in a different journal without disclosing the prior retraction or correcting the errors that led to the retraction. ( 25 )

An international team of researchers who work on obesity and nutrition wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine about the plethora of unsubstantiated beliefs about weight loss, nutrition, and obesity. Casazza and colleagues set out to show the lack of evidence for many weight loss ideas, such as the idea that small sustained changes in energy intake accumulate over time for large, long-term weight loss, or that it is necessary to have realistic goals for weight loss, or that diet readiness is necessary to help patients successfully lose weight. The authors further dismantle the myths that rapid weight loss leads to poorer weight loss outcomes as compared to gradual weight loss, that physical education classes in schools as currently designed reduce or prevent childhood obesity, or that breast-feeding is protective against obesity. They also note the absence of evidence to prove that breakfast is protective against obesity, that early childhood habits regarding exercise and eating influence weight throughout life, that eating more fruits and vegetables can produce weight loss, that snacking contributes to weight gain, or that neighborhood environment structures influence obesity. Their findings have great implications for the cultural and medical coping with obesity. For example, the authors note that while reduced energy intake has been scientifically proven to reduce weight, the act of trying to go on a diet or having a diet prescribed does not generally result in weight loss. Reduced energy intake is the most important arbiter of weight loss in this scenario. Provision of meals and use of meal-replacement products have been shown to promote greater weight loss. Thus, structural and environmental changes can successfully result in clinically significant reductions in obesity, as compared to fat shaming or assigning personal blame to persons with obesity. Lastly, and notably, we should not underrate the promise that obesity pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery offer for the effective treatment of obesity.( 26 ).

Brown and colleagues further describe the problematic scientific process behind generating knowledge about health and nutrition, as well as methodological errors that cast doubt on many scientific conclusions. For example, the authors note that observational studies of foods that cause cancer are profuse in the biomedical literature. Studies often tend to find significant associations, however the sum total of the associations as well as the effect sizes found between certain foods and cancers go against common sense knowledge regarding the effect of dietary changes on cancer prevalence around the world. In such cases, confounding biases and other methodological errors can contribute to significant findings. Media interest and the subsequent dissemination of study findings worsen this problem because they contribute to further fallacies in scientific research, whether through confirmation bias or exposure effect. Publication bias toward studies that match preconceived expectations, as well as study conclusions skewed toward study hypotheses worsen this vicious cycle.( 27 )

Frederick and colleagues have examined this dilemma regarding myths about obesity and fatness. ( 28 ) They have investigated how scientific knowledge about these topics are disseminated through the media and how that affects attitudes toward individuals with obesity, as well as public support for obesity policies. The investigators gave over 2,000 participants news articles that portrayed fatness as unhealthy, under personal control, and acceptable to stigmatize, or they gave them news articles that indicated the opposite. The authors found as association between negatively framed articles and greater anti-fat prejudice, greater willingness to exclude larger body sizes from acceptable notions of body size, and greater willingness to discriminate against fat people including charging them more for health insurance. This research demonstrates that the nuances of public reporting on obesity and fat is tied in intricate ways to the lived experience of individuals with obesity, related to how they are perceived, and the acceptability of anti-fat behavior.

Similarly, Saguy and colleagues. conducted an in-depth experiment analyzing a diversity of news framings of obesity, and then compared the impact of these frames on readers’ perceptions of the risks of higher body mass, their support for public health policies aimed at obesity, and their attitudes toward people labeled as fat or obese.( 29 ) The articles were framed with different ways for discussing obesity: one discussed obesity as a public health crisis, the other as less of a problem than previously thought, and another in the context of weight-based discrimination. The researchers found that framing obesity as a public health crisis was associated with greater anti-fat prejudice. But exposure to news about weight-based discrimination resulted in less inclination towards seeing obesity as a public health crisis and a lower likelihood of support for obesity-related public policies. Both this study and the one by Frederick and colleagues show that concerns about heavier bodies and obesity are tied to support for public health measures to ameliorate the rates of obesity, but are simultaneously linked to weight-based prejudice.( 28 , 29 )

Framing Public Policy Issues

Print and electronic media reporting on obesity play an important role in shaping public perceptions about policy issues related to obesity. At present, they largely serve to reinforce the notion that obesity policy amounts to nothing more than the aggregation of policies related to food and physical activity.

Stanford and Kyle examined the deficiencies in this approach.( 30 ) They concluded that “a more complete approach is needed to address the complex physiology of obesity, its transgenerational effects, and the importance of diverse stakeholders, including the food industry.” In addition, Monaghan and colleagues described how a dimension of moral panic, with an emphasis on body size, compounds the problem of ineffective approaches to public policies intended to address obesity.( 31 ) When framed as a moral issue, policies tend to add to weight stigma and lead to worse outcomes, both for individual and public health.

One of the ways that this occurs is through discriminatory medical policies. Brochu and colleagues demonstrated how stigmatizing media portrayals can lead to such policies.( 32 ) People were more likely to support discriminatory policies if news accounts are paired with stigmatizing images than if they are paired with neutral images. Stigmatizing media campaigns also serve to prevent personal engagement in health promotion. In a study by Puhl and colleagues, stigma-free and positive messaging was more likely to engage people in healthy behavior changes than were stigmatizing messages that focus on weight.( 33 )

Likewise, at a community level, media can influence public engagement in policies to address obesity. In a web-based experiment, Ye Sun and colleagues found that how news reports frame health issues related to obesity can affect support for both individual and community action to address obesity. Framing obesity in a societal, rather than individual, context led to more engagement and support for both community and personal action.( 34 ) In a similar way, Gollust and colleagues found that different health messages have important effects on support for public action to address childhood obesity.( 35 ) Messages about health consequences had the strongest effect overall, compared to others, such as messages relating to disparities. They also found that the impact of different messages varied among cohorts of people with different political orientations. For example, messages about obesity’s impact on military readiness had a greater impact of politically conservative respondents.

Moving Forward: Coping with the Chronic Disease of Obesity

Recent years have seen much progress in the understanding of obesity – both as a disease and as a cause for bias, stigma, and discrimination, but media messaging has been slow to incorporate this new understanding. The dominant themes in media reports about obesity focus almost exclusively on individual choices about nutrition and physical activity. Individual nutrition and physical activity can indeed have positive impacts on health.

But media messages less often reflect the complex interactions of biology and diverse environmental factors that promote obesity quite independently from individual personal choices. The result is that health policies place little emphasis on evidence-based obesity care and the need for more effective public health interventions to prevent obesity.

Typically, health plans will cover only brief and largely ineffective counseling to reduce or prevent obesity for individual patients.( 36 ) For even modest effectiveness, intensive interventions are required.( 37 ) Likewise, coverage for FDA-approved pharmacotherapy is uncommon.( 38 ) Although health plan coverage for bariatric surgery is more common than for other obesity treatments, significant gaps remain.( 39 ) Until media messaging about obesity includes more complete information about evidence-based obesity care, this situation will change very slowly, if at all. Strategies to achieve more complete media messaging will necessarily involve raising the awareness of more healthcare professionals about the physiologic basis for obesity, because the media often relies upon healthcare professionals who are not obesity specialists in preparing news reports. As a prototype for such efforts, the Bipartisan Policy Center has worked with 20 leading health organizations to develop a core set of provider competencies for obesity. ( 40 )

Conclusions

Public health strategies to reduce the impact of obesity have been largely focused on promoting healthier individual nutrition and physical activity behaviors. Media reporting tends to promote weight bias and focuse the public primarily upon individual behaviors without addressing the complexity that leads to the current pandemic of obesity. Thus, it is unsurprising that public support for research to identify more effective strategies is limited. But because “no major population success has yet been shown” in reversing long-standing trends toward higher obesity prevalence, new strategies are clearly needed. ( 41 )

Clinical and public health scientists must lead in the effort to develop and implement more effective approaches to reduce the impact of obesity. But they will not accomplish this in a vacuum of public understanding. Therefore, mass media has a critical role to play in creating an environment where progress is possible.

Acknowledgments

Funding : This work was supported in part by NIH NIDDK R01 DK103946 03.

Psychological Issues (V Drapeau and S Sogg, Section Editors)

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest

Fatima Cody Stanford and Zujaja Tauqeer declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Theodore K. Kyle has received compensation from Novo Nordisk, Nutrisystem, the Obesity Action Coalition, and The Obesity Society for service as a consultant.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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