It’s vitally important that people living with obesity have access to medical management and evidence-based treatment for their disease. But medical treatment rates of obesity in the US are shockingly low, and in my opinion social norms play a crucial role in this. As an example, there are <2000 healthcare providers who systematically treat obesity, and more than 90 million adults with this disease.

Telling people with obesity to eat less and move more is like telling someone with depression to just cheer up. It demonstrates your lack of understanding.

Today we all understand and agree with the complexity of mental health conditions and no one would deny medical care to a person suffering from a mental health issue. We are not there with obesity.

 

Read the source article at Shared Value Initiative