Research
Energy balance
Obesity is primarily driven by an 'obesogenic' environment characterized by energy-dense, processed foods and reduced physical activity demands, rather than individual lack of willpower.
Stop blaming yourself for the obesity epidemic. Your environment is designed to make you gain weight through cheap, processed food and sedentary living. Focus on systemic changes like urban planning and food policy rather than just 'trying harder' to exercise or diet.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Logically, the burden of disease induced by inappropriate diets and widespread physical inactivity can be addressed by increasing physical activity (PA), but simply advocating more leisure time activity is unrealistic. Substantial changes in urban planning and diet are needed to counter the removal of any every day need for PA and the decades of misdirected food policies which with free market forces have induced our current ‘toxic environment’.
Why this rating
Based on a review of epidemiological data, cohort studies, and policy analysis.
Source
The epidemiology of obesity: the size of the problem
W. P. T. James · Journal of Internal Medicine · 2008
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2008.01922.x
narrative_reviewCited 791×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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