The Obesity Epidemic

Increasing obesity levels are currently big news but do we think carefully enough about what this trend actually means? Everybody including doctors, parents, teachers, sports clubs, businesses and governments has a role to play in the war on obesity. But is talk of an obesity crisis justified? Is it the product of measured scientific reasoning or age-old habits of mind? Why is it happening now? And are there potential risks associated with talking about obesity as an epidemic? The Obesity Epidemic proposes that obesity science and the popular media present a complex mix of ambiguous knowledge, familiar (yet unstated) moral agendas and ideological assumptions.