Title Fat politics : the real story behind America's obesity epidemic / J. Eric Oliver

Published Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 228 pages) : illustrations Contents What is fat? -- How obesity became an epidemic disease -- Why we hate fat people -- Women, fat, and the sexual market -- Fat genes and the obesity blame game -- Food and weight gain: super sized misperceptions -- Sloth, capitalism, and the paradox of freedom -- Obesity policy: the fix is in -- Unmaking the obesity epidemic Summary Publisher description for Fat politics : the real story behind America's obesity epidemic / J. Eric Oliver. "Our government is telling us that obesity is a major health crisis, that sixty percent of Americans are "overweight," and that one in four is obese. But how true are these claims? In Fat Politics, Eric Oliver unearths the real story behind America's "obesity epidemic." Oliver shows how a handful of doctors, government bureaucrats, and health researchers, with financial backing from the drug and weight-loss industry, have campaigned to misclassify more than sixty million Americans as "overweight," to inflate the health risks of being fat, and to promote the idea that obesity is a killer disease. In reviewing the scientific evidence, Oliver shows there is little proof either that obesity causes so many diseases and deaths or that losing weight makes people any healthier. Our concern with obesity is fueled more by social prejudice, bureaucratic politics, and industry profit than by scientific fact. Such misinformation, Oliver argues, is the true problem with obesity in America. By telling us we need to be thin, the proponents of the "obesity epidemic" are pushing millions of Americans towards dangerous surgeries, crash diets, and harmful diet drugs. Oliver goes on to examine the surprising reasons why we hate fatness and why we are gaining weight, and also the real threats to our health that are being displaced by our fat obsession. Fat Politics not only topples our most basic assumptions about obesity and health, it highlights frightening dangers caused by making our weight a scapegoat for our real problems." Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-219) and index Notes Print version record Subject Obesity -- United States Obesity. Health. Medical policy. Prejudices. Social perception. Obesity Health Health Policy Prejudice Social Perception Obesity -- United States Health -- United States Health Policy -- United States Prejudice -- United States Social Perception -- United States health. MEDICAL -- Preventive Medicine. MEDICAL -- Forensic Medicine. MEDICAL -- Public Health. Obesity -- United States. Health -- United States. Health Policy -- United States. Prejudice -- United States. Social Perception -- United States. Social perception Prejudices Medical policy Health Obesity SUBJECT United States Subject United States Form Electronic book LC no. 2005012983 ISBN 9780195347029 0195347021 142374666X 9781423746669 1280564482 9781280564482

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