Is obesity a disease or a symptom?

Technically, it's a symptom, but is also a risk factor. It can be a symptom for a number of things including an eating disorder, depression, gluten sensitivity, thyroid problems, and a host of other physical and psychological conditions.

It *can* be treated as a disease, as it can technically be "cured" without necessarily addressing the underlying issues, but there usually is some kind of accompanying problem.

not a disease...just a ploy by Big Pharma to sell more drugs.

Your profile pic just made me really sad..... Charlie

I agree, disease. Some people's attitude toward overweight people is very sad. Like someone above said, a very insignificant number of people maintain more than 15-20 lbs of weightloss. It is simply not as easy as eating less. Some people are very genetically predisposed to weight gain. The genetic risk factors alone would cause me to categorize it as a disease.

I don't mean to be negative. I believe anyone CAN lose a significant amount of weight and maintain it but few actually DO. It's just a depressing fact and I have resolved to be one of the few. That said, we all know it is NOT easy. We should have more compassion.

Obesity is a disease. For it to be a symptom of something, then there would have to be another disease that it was a symptom of.

Being "fat" is a symptom of obesity.

I also find huge issues with some people in this thread who automatically assume that obesity squarely sits on the shoulders of those who are obese. Yes, personal responsibility is a factor, but there are other deep psychological and physiological reasons that keep people from losing weight. Losing weight is not an easy thing. It's not as simple as "put down the doughnuts!"

For instance, did you know that guilt makes "bad" foods taste better and therefore harder to resist? By making someone feel guilty about eating something, you are making it more rewarding for them to indulge. Here is a link to an article about the science behind that:

http://www.psmag.com/health/guilt-makes-the-pie-taste-sweeter-49624/

What about the fact that sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup (which has found its way into basically everything) reduce the amount of leptin (the chemical that makes you feel full) in the blood, and if you're not mindful of that you will continue eating even though you have had enough. That has nothing to do with personal responsibility, but moreso being the victim of greedy corporations who want you to buy more of their product. Here is the science behind that:

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/4/537.long

Or if you want to talk about greedy corporations, we can discuss how junk food has been deliberately designed to be addictive. Here is a New York Times article about that:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

And since junk food has been deliberately designed to be addictive we can talk about how, when someone does decide to go on a diet and quit junk food, they go through the same symptoms as drug withdrawal--on par with cocaine and meth. Here is an article about the science behind that:

http://www.livescience.com/25588-junk-food-withdrawal.html

But let's jump off that train of thought and talk about how people who are overweight have difficulty losing weight because the weight gain has destroyed the body's fat fighting invariant natural killer T-cells. The fatter someone becomes, the less of these cells they have. Here are two links about that:

http://gizmodo.com/5948168/why-fat-people-cant-help-getting-even-fatter

http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=124501&CultureCode=en

There are a lot of other factors that I could mention, too (such as how MRI imaging has showed that the prefrontal cortex of obese people does not activate in order to stop them from wanting high fat foods when they are not hungry), but I think I've given enough links here already. The point of all this isn't to discourage people from losing weight (or to give them excuses not to do so) because there are all of these factors against them, but to pat them on the back. This is really, really hard. There is a lot working against you, but we're all here because we're doing it. And that's amazing!

To try and act like obesity is solely a "symptom" of a lack of willpower or something is absurd and counterproductive. It is a disease, and there are a multitude of internal and external reasons for it. The science is behind that. A disease does not need to be caused by a virus or whatever in order to be classified as such. Like GetSoda up there so sufficiently said:

The dictionary says:

"A particular quality, habit, or disposition regarded as adversely affecting a person or group of people."

So, just because something is self inflicted, doesn't mean it's not a disease.

I heard this story on the radio this morning. They are adding it as a disease to allow the cost of care covered by insurance and to allow people to seek help without paying an arm and a leg.

I personally believe that it isnt a disease but a symptom of something. Diabetes, thyroid problems, etc. But this way, people will be able to get the help they need if they search for it and want it which is excellent, but I can see the problems this will probably cause in terms of options of care, etc

The AMA is made up of doctors and their main motivator in life is money (not dissing them for that, just stating it as I see it).

Really? How many doctors do you know at the AMA? How many do you know in real life? Do you know what their debt to income ratio is?

Money is NOT the motivating factor for most doctors and, frankly, most doctors could make a hell of a lot more money in other careers at this point...

That being said, the AMA sold out doctors to Big Pharma and Big Insurance a long time ago (80s-90s). Most docs *I* know do NOT feel that the AMA represents them.

Get off your donkey, turn off the tv, grab a bottle of water and take a walk.

That's the plan I have been following and now can say I'm overweight.

That just doesn't look as good when it's in writing.

Probably depends on who you are talking about, and who you are talking to. There are multitudes of reasons why people overeat...some are emotional, some are situational, some are genuinely physical...every person has their own story and all those stories are valid and true. So it could be a disease OR a symptom. OR both. OR neither.

I'd say it is a symptom of:

1. sedentary lifestyles
2. easy access to;
3. more processed and sugar laced food than ever before.

Yep!

for more information read about adiposopathy and "sick fat" - see article and search for others

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21679848

this abdominal fat "sick fat" is possibly acting as it's own "organ"

very interesting