Health science and medicine have been severely challenged by obesity. Smug assumptions that obesity is simply a lack of “will power” have not resulted in a successful treatment of the condition. The fact that super-obesity as well as less severe forms of fatness is persistent and recurring in spite of the most sincere efforts is frustrating and further confirms the traditional beliefs. Thankfully insights have been gained from a spectrum of sources in the last fifty years. Genetic research has revealed a number of factors which may lead to promising new treatments for obesity. Psychology can now better deal with the associated behavioral processes of fatness as well as the stress caused by living with the condition.
Sociology has addressed the resulting personal relationships in their contribution to the condition of obesity and the roles of others in the lives of fat people. At long last the most forward- thinking of physicians has acknowledged the multivariate nature of true obesity.
Tags: science and medicine
