Obesity is a complex disease
By Geraldine Fitzgerald
If the simple mantra of ‘Eat less and move more’ worked for everyone, nobody would be overweight.
When you consider that in our relatively small country, 1.37 million Irish people are overweight or living with obesity, it’s apparent that in many cases the equation must be more complex.
“The key to advancing the fight against obesity is a better understanding of the brain,” said Professor Carel Le Roux, an expert in obesity at St Vincent’s University Hospital. “We thought that overeating caused obesity. But now we understand that the disease of obesity causes people to overeat.”
21 October marked European Living with Obesity and People First Campaign Day, and results of a survey conducted by Novo Nordisk with the support of the Irish Coalition for People Living with Obesity (ICPO) revealed 74 per cent of people living with obesity feel their weight negatively influences how other people interact with them, including members of their own families.
The perception of the general public is negative, with many believing obesity is the result of lack of willpower and poor lifestyle choices.
Although obesity is frequently linked to other health issues, the underlying idea that people should take responsibility for their own health without medical intervention may explain why many people are very uncomfortable discussing their weight with their doctors.
Ireland has one of the highest rates of overweight and obesity in Europe according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and it’s on the increase. People living with obesity continue to face stigma, bias and discrimination.
“There’s a need to change the obesity narrative and follow the science, which clearly shows that obesity is a complex, chronic disease, not a lifestyle choice,” said Dr Jean O’Connell, Consultant Endocrinologist and Chairperson of the Association for the Study of Obesity in Ireland.
Dr O’Connell added: “Obesity stigma has significant adverse effects on people’s physical and mental health and increases the risk of further weight gain. Stigma and discrimination of any kind is not acceptable and weight stigma is no different.”
It is now understood that biological, genetic and environmental factors, many outside of the individual’s control, contribute to obesity meaning that diet and exercise alone are not always sufficient for weight loss.
A collaboration between the ICPO and its European counterpart, ECPO, is working to change the public perception of obesity. The initiative calls to reduce visual weight stigma by highlighting the importance of how we use images when talking about the disease and redefining the way in which people see obesity in the media.
A new European image bank is being compiled to support this, with images from associations in ten European countries including Ireland, to bring education and awareness to ending weight stigma.