In collaboration with Stichting Over Weight, Vital10, Obesitas Kliniek Nederland, and Goodlife Pharma, Boon conducted a survey of 6,500 people. 89% believe obesity is not someone’s fault, but 83% believe they can start it on their own, without necessarily needing treatment, medication or surgery.
Lack of will
The survey results were published today on World Obesity Day. A third of the respondents were obese, a third were overweight, and a third were healthy weight.
A quarter of people with a healthy weight believe that obese people lack willpower. Of the 1,700 obese people, half said they had difficulty losing weight due to the constant allure of good food.
“It is a complex disease and many factors can contribute to its development, such as lifestyle, stress, medications with obesity side effects, and your genes,” says Boone. “It is not a disease you can do on your own.”
Obesity is a disease
“Obese people want to treat their weight gain, but often times they can’t do it on their own,” she says. “This is not surprising. Once someone becomes obese, many of the body’s systems are disrupted so losing weight becomes very difficult and it is not just about dieting.
Boone thinks it is time for obesity to be seen as a disease. Also because additional diseases like diabetes or cardiovascular disease can be prevented in this way. “It’s weird that we treat complications of obesity but we ignore the core problem – obesity,” says Boone, who draws attention, among other things, to the problem of knowledge testing called #Vetlastig.
