Why is it so difficult to treat obesity ?

In 1997, the WHO sounded the alarm by identifying obesity as the first non-infectious epidemic in human history. 26 years later, obesity kills more than a million people a year in Europe. Globally, 39% of the population was overweight in 2016, and 13% obese.

When we know the health risks of being significantly overweight, we are entitled to ask ourselves : why does obesity continue to increase ?

The causes of obesity are not so obvious

While it is true that eating more calories than you expend leads to fat accumulation, it is neither the only nor the main cause of obesity. In fact, this complex disease results from a whole host of factors that add up or complement each other.

For example, studies have shown that obesity has a genetic component, with heritability varying between 40 and 70%. Some specific mutations affect appetite, metabolism, and body fat distribution.

That's not all : many psychological factors come into play in maintaining weight balance. Stress, anxiety, isolation, poor self-esteem are all causes that lead to overeating. In addition, junk food, high in fat and sugar, ubiquitous in modern societies, encourages people to eat more than they need.

Among other factors predisposing to obesity, we must also take into account the sedentary lifestyle increased by the expansion of screens and remote work, as well as the difficulty for some people to eat healthy food at a lower cost, while ultra food -transformed is more economical.

Curing obesity, an individual and complex program

It is almost impossible to provide a comprehensive response to an epidemic affected by so many different factors. In fact, the difficulty in treating obesity lies in the need for individualized care and the need for long-term support.

Thus, to implement lasting lifestyle changes, it is essential that the obese person benefits from emotional support from those around them and from the doctor. Long-term motivation is difficult to maintain, especially in the face of the affluent society that offers fatty, salty and sweet food on every corner.

Drugs to help lose weight often have significant side effects, as does bariatric surgery with risks of infection, bleeding and complications.

On the other hand, even when significant weight loss is achieved, recurrence and weight regain remain frequent : more than 8 out of 10 people who have followed a diet then regain all the lost weight, or more. This is explained both by the difficulty of maintaining a strict lifestyle over the long term, and by the fact that the body tries to recover the weight it has lost in order to survive.