“Obesity as a chronic disease, which means that it’s like high-blood pressure, diabetes, asthma…it is a disease. And just like any disease, it has classical signs and symptoms.”
A physiotherapist (L) assists obese patients with exercises in an obesity unit at the CHU Angers teaching hospital in Angers, western France, on 23 October 2013. Picture: AFP
There are certain things that people are inclined to incorrectly believe or assume about obesity and people who are obese.
However, the truth is there are several factors that could contribute to obesity like genetic reasons, diseases like hypothyroidism, insulin resistance or polycystic ovary syndrome, or even certain medications.
Sara-Jayne King spoke to Dr Jocelyn Hellig – a specialist physician and endocrinologist to unpack some of the most common myths about obesity, starting with the widely-held notion that people living with obesity do not make the right food choices, are lazy and merely lack the willpower to eat well and exercise their way out of obesity.
“That myth should’ve been discarded decades ago because we now recognise obesity as a chronic disease, which means that it’s like high-blood pressure, diabetes, asthma…it is a disease. And just like any disease, it has classical signs and symptoms.”
Dr Jocelyn Hellig – a specialist physician and endocrinologist
“Generally telling people to eat less and exercise more is universally unhelpful, and has sadly been proven in many trials to not be effective long-term, and the problem is a patient living with obesity has a dysregulation in their appetite centre, so you cannot control your hunger…”
Dr Jocelyn Hellig – a specialist physician and endocrinologist
To find out more, listen to the clip below:
This article first appeared on CapeTalk : Busting widespread myths about obesity
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