Review

There are a lot aspects related to obesity that have not been covered. The claim that obesity has nothing to do with modern sedentary lifestyles and is entirely down to eating too much seems a naive view of obesity. It is definitely one of the factors in obesity, but it is not an entire reason for an obesity epidemic. The writer does not consider a genetic component to the risk for obesity, or people with a hormonal disorder, leading to excessive fat accumulation. Also lifestyle and environmental changes ove rthe past 25 years are not given any thougt. In particular, the unlimited supply of convenient, highly calorific foods together with a sedentary lifestyle. Interestingly, little explanation is given about why people eat too much now then they did 25 years go.

To say that “weight is not realistically going to benefit from exercise" and that "dieting…is a more realistic approach,” in my opinion this does not provide any insightful information about obesity, but rather a damaging dieting advice is given despite a wealth of evidence that it is not always good for you. To those who simply say stop eating so much, they have little insight and are unhelpful to those who struggle throughout their lives with weight problems.

I don’t think it was a very effective article. I think that it could have been written in a way that does not seem like an attack on obese people suggesting that obesity is a lifestyle choice that people just choose to eat and grow fat. To say that the obesity crisis has nothing to do with modern sedentary lifestyle is brushing aside lifestyle and environmental changes, which needs to be given a lot more consideration. It would have been more effective if the writer offered insight into why people might be eating a lot more now than 25 years ago. I would have been more interested if there was more research into weight gain and control and if the writer offered helpful calorie reduction advice.

The data is somewhat misleading; for instance...