Public Health Ethics 5 (3):222-228 (2012)
Abstract |
In this response to Jonny Anomaly’s ‘Is Obesity a Public Health Problem?’ I argue, contra the author that public health actually increases individuals’ abilities to choose actions that further their health goals, specifically in the case of obesity. The intractability of obesity as an individual medical problem combined with the health benefits of modest (5–10 per cent of body weight) weight loss suggest that public health measures helping people make small changes in eating habits improve population health. I argue that such measures are available to public health via behavioral economic research and policy proposals from libertarian paternalists. I respond to author’s claim that obesity does not constitute a public health problem because: (i) it is not an epidemic and (ii) obesity reduction is not a public good. I argue that epidemic status is not required for classification as a public health problem, but that obesity does have the status of an epidemic. I also point out flaws in author’s reasoning about obesity, public health and social costs. I conclude by suggesting that public health, in partnership with stakeholders and other areas of government, is poised to help create conditions for modest weight loss and increased population health overall
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DOI | 10.1093/phe/phs031 |
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References found in this work BETA
A 'Nudge' for Public Health Ethics: Libertarian Paternalism as a Framework for Ethical Analysis of Public Health Interventions?J. -F. Menard - 2010 - Public Health Ethics 3 (3):229-238.
Nudge, Nudge or Shove, Shove—The Right Way for Nudges to Increase the Supply of Donated Cadaver Organs.Kyle Powys Whyte, Evan Selinger, Arthur L. Caplan & Jathan Sadowski - 2012 - American Journal of Bioethics 12 (2):32-39.
Citations of this work BETA
Counter-Manipulation and Health Promotion.T. M. Wilkinson - 2017 - Public Health Ethics 10 (3):257-266.
Exacerbating Inequalities? Health Policy and the Behavioural Sciences.Kathryn MacKay & Muireann Quigley - 2018 - Health Care Analysis 26 (4):380-397.
Clinical Specificities in Obesity Care: The Transformations and Dissolution of ‘Will’ and ‘Drives’.Else Vogel - 2016 - Health Care Analysis 24 (4):321-337.
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