ReviewEuropean journal of clinical nutrition2017
Should Europe follow the US and declare obesity a disease?: a discussion of the so-called utilitarian argument.
Review in European journal of clinical nutrition, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Global prevalence of obesity and overweight among medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Are we close to defining a metabolomic signature of human obesity? A systematic review of metabolomics studies.Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society · 2019Pooled it
- Trial
- Comparing multiple definitions of obesity in a large nationwide health program.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Definition and diagnostic criteria of clinical obesity.The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology · 2025Review
- Nurses' Role in Obesity Management in Adults in Primary Healthcare Settings Worldwide: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Hepatic Runx1t1 improves body fat index after endurance exercise in obese mice.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Body Composition and Cardiovascular Risk: A Study of Polish Military Flying Personnel.Metabolites · 2023Article
- Obesity Stigma: Causes, Consequences, and Potential Solutions.Current obesity reports · 2023Review
- The role of philosophy and ethics at the edges of medicine.Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM · 2021Article
- Review
- Weight Stigma and Disease and Disability Concepts of Obesity: A Survey of the German Population.Obesity facts · 2021Article
- US Obesity Mortality Trends and Associated Noncommunicable Diseases Contributing Conditions Among White, Black, and Hispanic Individuals by Age from 1999 to 2017.SN comprehensive clinical medicine · 2021Article
- COVID-19: Is there a role for immunonutrition in obese patient?Journal of translational medicine · 2020Review
- Metabolically Healthy Obesity.Endocrine reviews · 2020Review
- Why primary obesity is a disease?Journal of translational medicine · 2019Review
- Defining obesity as a disease.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In 2013, the American Medical Association (AMA) decided to recognize obesity as a disease. One of the main arguments presented in favor of this was broadly 'utilitarian': the disease label would, it was claimed, provide more benefits than harms and thereby serve the general good. Several individuals and groups have argued that this reasoning is just as powerful in the European context. Drawing mainly on a review of relevant social science research, we discuss the validity of this argument. Our conclusion is that in a Western European welfare state, defining obesity as a disease will not on balance serve the general good, and that it is therefore more appropriate to continue to treat obesity as a risk factor. The main reasons presented in favor of this conclusion are: It is debatable whether a disease label would lead to better access to care and preventive measures and provide better legal protection in Europe. Medicalization and overtreatment are possible negative effects of a disease label. There is no evidence to support the claim that declaring obesity a disease would reduce discrimination or stigmatization. In fact, the contrary is more likely, since a disease label would categorically define the obese body as deviant.
Indexed as
Identifiers
28952605What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.