Of course you didn’t, heck you didn’t even know there was one, right? Unsurprisingly, it has its own website; World Obesity Day was launched in 2015 and was celebrated this year on March 4. Celebrated isn’t quite the word, because there is nothing to celebrate about being obese, and certainly not morbidly obese, even though there are some people who do indeed celebrate it. One person who did was Catherine Oakeson who died from a heart attack aged just 49. Okay, so do a lot of people who are in no way overweight, but any doctor will tell you that being grossly overweight puts a strain on the heart big time.
According to its website, World Obesity is a charity based in London. Its accounts reveal some heavy funding by the European Commission but nothing sinister, and its goals are admirable although it does talk about something called “weight stigma”.
It is also worth pointing out that the popular meaning of obesity if not its actual definition has changed markedly over the years. At one time it meant being grossly overweight. Leaving aside technical definitions relating to body mass index, people are now branded obese for being a few pounds overweight.
People can become obese for a variety of reasons, all human beings are different, but the main reason is simply eating too much. Anyone can lose weight by eating less, though it isn’t that simple because after resuming “normal” eating they tend to put on more weight, but eating less and exercising more are easily the best ways.
Unfortunately, obesity has long been classified as a disease; this goes back to 1997 and a precursor of World Obesity. Fortunately, help is at hand. What better way to tackle a disease than drugs? Last year, Pfizer began testing one such drug to help with diabetes and obesity. Obesity is of course a major cause of diabetes while Pfizer is a major manufacturer of covid-19 vaccines. Doesn’t that just make you want to hit the gym?