The Pros And Cons Of Labeling Obesity A Disease

The American Medical Association’s decision to label obesity a disease only has one benefit; it raises awareness. However, Hoyt and Burnette’s article “Should Obesity Be a Disease?’ claims that there are negative and positives effects for the American Medical Association’s decision. Hoyt and Burnette’s article stresses the negatives of labeling obesity a disease. The American Medical Association’s decision to label obesity a disease only caused people to hide behind this newfound disease. People were now able to blame their unhealthy lifestyle on suffering from obesity.
In June 2013 the American Medical Association decided to label obesity a disease. They immediately started funding and research to find remedies to this new disease. Hoyt and …show more content…
The only positive effect Hoyt and Burnette conclude from their experiment was the increase of body satisfaction in obese participants. They use repetition to emphasize their experiment was not able to find any other benefits. Hoyt and Burnette’s experiment with Lisa Auster-Gussman from the University of Minnesota tested their theory that labeling obesity a disease comes with serious psychological factors. Their experiment consisted in having some participants read newspaper articles that specifically stated that obesity was labeled a disease while other participants read articles about weight loss goals. The experiment concluded that participants who read the article of the American Medical Association's decision had an increased body satisfaction but felt their weight was fixed and trying to lose weight was pointless. Hoyt and Burnette emphasize the serious effects labeling obesity a disease had on obese participants in their experiment. Hoyt and Burnette stress the importance of psychological issues labeling obesity a disease has but never state what the psychological issues are in their article, instead, they blame the American Medical Association of inadequately labeling obesity a disease. They do not provide enough evidence to support the psychological problems people experienced with the …show more content…
Various factors need to be taken into account when the medical field makes decisions that affect numerous people. The American Medical Association’s decision only helped improve the awareness for obesity. Labeling obesity a disease had its negative effects but also helped When they labeled obesity a disease, they immediately started funding and tried to find remedies for this disease. People were able to shield themselves from their careless food choices and minimal exercise behind the new label obesity had received. The American Medical Association needs to come up with experiments similar to Hoyt and Burnette’s to propose a better solution that will benefit everyone. The American Medical Association needs to fix their mistake in their decision to label obesity a