The Obesity Epidemic: Science, Morality, and Ideology - Essay Example

The tone of absolute conviction by the people who talk about the ‘obesity epidemic’ cannot be justified, because, as Gard and Wright (2005) argue, “whatever we might say about the science of body weight, health, exercise and diet, the one thing we cannot say is that these are fields in which consensus is common.” (Gard and Wright, 5) Therefore, it is fundamental to realize that there is large-scale difference of opinion on the question of obesity relating to epidemic. In a reflective exploration of the various ways in which emerging epidemics are understood, it becomes lucid that obesity cannot be regarded as an epidemic, at its commonsense explanation or its professional/scholarly definition. It is important to realize that, as Mukherjea (2010) purports, “obesity challenges standard definitions of ‘epidemic’ in a number of ways.” (Mukherjea, 346) An explicit understanding of the definition of epidemic confirms that obesity in the American context cannot be listed under the category of epidemic, but under endemic. When a group of illnesses of analogous nature occurs in a community or region in excess of standard expectancy, it is called an epidemic in the scholarly definition of the term in epidemiology books and the data from the U.S. overweight surveys do not, in any case, justify the use of the term ‘obesity epidemic’. According to W Wayt Gibbs, “a growing number of dissenting researchers accuse government and medical authorities – as well as the media – of misleading the public about the health consequences of rising body weights.” (Gibbs, 31) In conclusion, it is fundamental to maintain that the current tendency to regard obesity as an epidemic is not justifiable.