Society sick with thinness or why weight problems isn’t “a pandemic” | Nourish with science | EUROtoday

Since they got here onto the market, Ozempic and the remainder of the medicines analogous to GLP-1 have been enjoying with thinness as an answer to all the things. What emerged as a drug that will be useful for individuals affected by sort II diabetes and whose facet impact is weight reduction, by urge for food modulation, has turn into the aspirational panacea for thinness. In a tremendously fatphobic society, who would not need to be thinner? Now it is potential, you are only a few clicks away from it.

For years, the WHO has been speaking about an weight problems pandemic, however it’s deceptive in its definition: the WHO defines weight problems as “an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that can be harmful to health” (WHO, 2023). And it makes use of BMI as a classification software; That is, weight problems is taken into account when the BMI is the same as or better than 30 kg/m². In many paperwork, the WHO describes weight problems as a danger issue for non-communicable ailments similar to sort 2 diabetes, cardiovascular ailments or sure varieties of most cancers.

However, in different contexts—such because the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11)—it treats it as a power illness, with particular diagnostic codes. This ambiguity contributes to scientific and social confusion, and reinforces the pathologizing view of the fats physique.

What is definite is that it’s not an infectious illness that spreads by contagion, and will due to this fact create a worldwide pandemic. It is curious that, having had an actual pandemic 5 years in the past, Covid, these linguistic licenses are allowed. Language isn’t harmless, and so they know that in the event that they use phrases that may scare the inhabitants, the impact is larger.

It is neither a pandemic, neither is it an epidemic, neither is it an infectious illness. None of this issues if the perform is to frighten the inhabitants. Another cause why unethical habits is allowed when addressing chubby and weight problems is the good enterprise and financial profit it entails.

We should not ignore the marketing campaign that the Novo Nordisk laboratory has carried out on tv and on marquees in cities in Spain, with posters as encouraging as “obesity can kill.” And with an commercial on tv displaying a fats woman, about whom we initially know nothing about her well being, solely that she weighs greater than she “should” in accordance with the well-known BMI, and who lastly assumes that she is sick, is overweight, and at last “speaks without filters.”

What stays unfiltered is her fatphobia: by the mere proven fact that she is fats, she is assumed to be sick. I ponder, even when they have been, whether or not they have been fats or sick with no matter, may they be compelled to take remedy?

Would you see it with the identical eyes if the commercial was devoted to most cancers sufferers, for instance? Would we see billboards with the slogan “cancer kills”? Would we stigmatize those that undergo from it? The reply is not any. With chubby and weight problems, many licenses are allowed, although it has been confirmed that weight stigma causes plenty of harm.

The unequal remedy of fats individuals causes them to cease attending medical consultations as a result of if they’ve any ailment they may obtain a food regimen prescription. In this fashion they’re denied the remedy that will first be supplied to a skinny particular person. This, gents, is medical negligence.

Does nothing, from the scientific journal The Lancetit additionally referred to as for an method away from the stereotype and weight stigma, along with medical societies and, once more, with the cash of the laboratory that supported the examine. While they acknowledged that BMI was an out of date parameter, they reclassified what was beforehand chubby—that’s, that BMI vary between 25 and 29—as scientific preobesity. To be extra cautious, they’ve sneaked the phrase “obesity” 5 factors earlier into the BMI.

It is putting how they insist that antibiotics not be abused to keep away from resistant strains, whereas, then again, increasingly more semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) is prescribed to individuals with out diabetes, merely due to their weight. This happens even supposing severe and rising unwanted effects have already been documented, similar to a uncommon type of blindness, referred to as non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded in June 2025 that there’s a believable affiliation between the usage of semaglutide and an elevated danger of growing this uncommon type of blindness: roughly one particular person in 10,000 per yr may very well be affected. Recent research help this warning: for instance, a big examine in Denmark discovered that semaglutide can double the chance of NAION in sufferers with sort 2 diabetes, and even improve it as much as 7 occasions in people who find themselves chubby or overweight.

Daniel Drucker, a type of chargeable for the event of semaglutide – the lively part of Ozempic and Wegovy – has warned in an interview on this newspaper that it shouldn’t be utilized in people who find themselves not chubby or overweight, since its long-term results on wholesome people aren’t identified. In literal phrases: “If you’re not overweight or obese, you definitely shouldn’t be taking these drugs. You’re taking on all the risks and getting none of the benefits, that’s for sure.”

This reinforces what has been identified by unbiased sources similar to Verificat: neither Ozempic nor semaglutide have been evaluated as a weight reduction remedy in wholesome individuals, and solely security profiles, not efficacy, have been studied in sufferers with out metabolic pathology.

On the opposite hand, though semaglutide has a confirmed anorexigenic impact, this urge for food suppression doesn’t translate into studying wholesome consuming habits. If it’s prescribed with out accompaniment—with out dietary schooling or psychological help—it turns into a power remedy: the particular person loses weight whereas taking the drug, however once they cease taking it they regain the misplaced weight and haven’t acquired any sustainable routine. And the dangers of muscle loss, slower metabolism, and the potential chronification of remedy use with no clear prognosis should be thought-about.

What type of society have we constructed after we favor to medicate wholesome individuals simply in order that they match into a great of thinness, even at the price of subjecting them to an extended listing of already documented unwanted effects—nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, lack of muscle mass, suicidal ideation, amongst others— typical of medication like Ozempic? We are speaking about medication initially designed to deal with sort 2 diabetes, the usage of which has now been prolonged to succeed in a physique normal.

Turning thinness right into a medical aim, with out an underlying pathology, means not solely exposing wholesome individuals to severe dangers, but additionally turning it into an financial privilege: solely those that can afford such costly remedies have entry to them.

This reinforces the concept thinness is synonymous with standing and perpetuates a physique hierarchy the place fatter persons are marginalized, not due to well being, however due to class. In the top, being skinny turns into a privilege that erodes physique variety and deepens social divisions.

NOURISH WITH SCIENCE It is a bit on vitamin primarily based on scientific proof and information verified by specialists. Eating is rather more than a pleasure and a necessity: food regimen and consuming habits are actually the general public well being issue that may most assist us forestall quite a few ailments, from many varieties of most cancers to diabetes. A group of dietitians-nutritionists will assist us higher perceive the significance of meals and debunk, because of science, the myths that lead us to eat poorly.