How Obesity Became a Disease

And, as a consequence, how weight loss became an industry

"The new terminology reinforced the idea that only doctors should and could treat weight issues. The word overweight, for example, implies excess; to be overweight suggests you’re over the “right” weight. The word obese, from the Latinobesus, or “having eaten until fat,” handily conveys both a clinical atmosphere and that oh-so-familiar sense of moral judgment."



HARRIET BROWNMAR 24 2015