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

By:

Oliver, J. Eric, 1966-

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.Description: 1 online resource (xi, 228 pages) : illustrationsContent type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9780195347029
0195347021
142374666X
9781423746669
1280564482
9781280564482

Subject(s): Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Fat politics.DDC classification:

614.5/9398 22

LOC classification:

RA645.O23 O45 2006eb

NLM classification:

WD 210

Other classification:

R151. 1
R199. 712

Online resources:

Click here to access online

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."

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-219) and index.

Print version record.

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."

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