To read Hunter’s opposing viewpoint, click here.
Nearly one in eight people in the world live with obesity today. To put that into perspective, since the year 1990, the increase in the number of people who suffer from this condition has doubled for adults and quadrupled for adolescents according to the World Health Organization (WHO). As the number of people who are diagnosed with this condition escalates, it brings up the question of whether or not it should be universally classified as a disease. Obesity is more than a cosmetic issue, it is a condition that can affect the quality of people’s lives.
Obesity is defined by the WHO as “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health.” On the other hand, a disease can be classified by Merriam-Webster as “a condition of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that impairs normal functioning…” If taken to certain extremes, obesity can in fact impair a person’s mobility and heighten the risks for more major conditions.
Allowing obesity to be classified as a disease helps medical providers come up with a solution before it can develop into more severe cases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity has the risk of developing into sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and many more health issues. By intervening and working with the patient who has this disease before it progresses any further, it will help them prevent any further damage.
Medical professionals have a patient’s best interest at heart, and all medical cases are different depending on the person. It isn’t just a simple “one-size fits all” solution. Not all patients will benefit from hearing about the recommended course of action for diets and exercises; some patients need extra therapies to change their habits, or they may need certain surgeries or medications to manage their health issues. Not only would classifying obesity as a disease help put research into guiding these people with their health issues, but it would also allow for insurance coverage to help people pay for these resources. For instance, the Sutter Health Organization writes that most insurances will not cover surgery to remove excess skin after a major weight loss due to it being considered a cosmetic procedure. If obesity were to be classified as a disease, more of these resources could be available, and it may even motivate people to better themselves.
Unfortunately, many people seem to believe that obesity is just a straightforward issue that can be attributed to “overeating and laziness.” There may be some truth to the fact that environmental factors such as poor diet and lack of exercise can influence obesity, but the genetic factors and health conditions are not something to turn a blind eye to. One diagnosis that affects women in particular is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), with over 200,000 different cases each year. One of the main side effects that come with this condition as listed by the National Library of Medicine is obesity.
To dig a little deeper, PCOS is incurable and chronic, meaning that it is lifelong. It can be treated, but that doesn’t guarantee that obesity will go away. PCOS deals with a hormonal imbalance in the body–which is not environmentally caused–as opposed to someone’s diet or the amount of exercise they are getting daily. PCOS isn’t the only condition that has obesity as a side effect, it is just one of the more common ones. There are many other conditions, such as Prader-Willi Syndrome and Cushing Syndrome, that can also cause obesity.
Classifying obesity as a disease isn’t meant to be offensive, it’s meant to guide people to take the proper precautions to care for themselves. Recognizing that obesity isn’t always the result of personal choices, but rather could be a result of various genetic factors or medical conditions, is why it is important to classify obesity as a disease. It emphasizes that obesity is more of a medical diagnosis rather than a personal failure.
