Ivy League doctors say obesity is the new normal for Americans.
as if A six-part series In Medscape, “Treating Obesity: Facing the New Normal,” doctors from Harvard, Yale, and Rutgers Medical Schools make the case that obesity is not caused by behavioral issues. One of the doctors, Yale Professor of Medicine Ania Jastreboff, said that the traditional diet of eating less and exercising more did not have any effect on changing obesity.
“Obesity is not a personal choice,” Jastreboff said. “For years, the advice was that our patients should ‘eat less and move more’. This doesn’t work.
Harvard Medical School professor David Ludwig dismisses the “Western” view of obesity as a debilitating trait.
“Western culture views obesity as a behavioral problem. Being overweight means eating less and moving more, and if you can’t do this, it’s a lack of character or discipline. “In reality, obesity is more about biology than behavior,” Ludwig said. “When we think about medicine, we have to think about nutrition.”
In the latest episode, the doctors say that medicine is the cure for obesity. They discussed the injectable drug semaglutide, a popular weight loss drug under the brands Ozympic and Wegovi, as well as a similar drug called tirzepatide (Mounjaro).
“I think we’re in an incredibly exciting time,” Jastreboff said. “Before, we had tools to treat obese patients. But now we have newer, more effective and safer drugs that target disease pathophysiology.
But to reduce the weight once it is gone, the doctors said that individuals should take the drug permanently.
“One of the most common questions I get from both my colleagues and patients is, ‘Well, I’ve been taking this drug, I’ve lost weight, can I stop taking it? Am I done?'” Jastreboff said. “And the answer is no, you have to keep taking the medicine.”
Dr. Chika Anke, an obesity medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Weight Center, agrees.
“Once you start medication, we expect you’ll be able to lose and maintain weight loss over time,” Ankwe said.
Although doctors dismiss personal choices as the cause of obesity, doctors say poor food choices are the cause of obesity.
The doctors classified America as an obesity environment: an abundance of highly processed and sweetened foods, a sedentary and high-stress lifestyle, and poor sleep. The doctors pointed out that the shift to remote work and education during the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the obesity environment.
Earl Butz, then-Secretary of Agriculture, linked modern obesity to the Nixon administration’s changes to agriculture, which led to the mass industrialization of two major ingredients in highly processed foods: soybeans and corn. The doctors say booze’s leadership is due to the proliferation of junk foods: processed foods that are easy to digest and contain simple sugars.
According to Rutgers professor Ronald Weiss, processed foods are a “true sense of hunger” developed through evolution: the more junk food is consumed, the greater the individual’s desire for it.
“I think the most dangerous drug on Earth is food. Addictive foods are so prevalent — they’re everywhere,” Weiss said.
The doctors blamed highly processed foods for disrupting the flow of insulin and glucagon by creating negative peptide hormone reactions. According to Ludwig, these foods cause fat cells to store more calories and starve the brain and other parts of the body, causing an individual to eat more; Ludwig said that fasting would be useless in these cases.
American Medical Association (AMA) Acknowledged. In the year Obesity as a chronic health condition in 2013. More than 40 percent of American adults and 20 percent of children To qualify Like thickness.