In this paper, we aim at rethinking the concept of obesity in a way that better captures the connection between underlying medical aspects, on the one hand, and an individual’s developmental history, on the other. Our proposal rests on the idea that obesity is not to be understood as a phenotypic trait or character; rather, obesity represents one of the many possible states of a more complex phenotypic trait that we call ‘energy metabolism.’ We argue that this (...) apparently simple conceptual shift can help solve important theoretical misconceptions regarding the genetics, epigenetics, and development of obesity. In addition, we show that our proposal can be fruitfully paired with the concept of developmental channeling of a trait, which connects to the study of the plasticity and canalization of complex traits. Finally, we discuss the potential impact of our approach on the assessment, treatment, and social narratives of obesity. (shrink)

Obesity is one of the most significant public health challenges and becomes a public health problem. Consumption of fast-food, which have high energy densities and glycemic loads, and expose customers to excessive portion size, is frequently associated with weight gain, therefore, it is hypothesized that relative availability of fast-food is a risk for obesity.

The belief that obese people ought to lose weight and keep it off is widespread, and has a profound negative impact on the lives of the obese. I argue in this paper that most obese people have no such obligation, even if obesity is bad, and caused by calorie input exceeding output. Obese people do not have an obligation to achieve long-term weight loss if this is impossible for them, is worse than the alternative, or requires such an enormous (...) effort in relation to what stands to be gained that this option is supererogatory rather than obligatory. It is highly plausible that most obese people fall into one of these three groups. Politicians may still have obligations to fight obesity, but they ought to do so through progressive politics rather than blaming and shaming. (shrink)

Assumptions about obesity—e.g., its connection to ill health, its causes, etc.—are still prevalent today, and they make up what I call the medical model of fatness. In this paper, I argue that the medical model was established on the basis of insufficient evidence and has nevertheless continued to be relied upon to justify methodological choices that further entrench the assumptions of the medical model. These choices are illegitimate in so far as they conflict with both the epistemic and social (...) aims of obesity research. I conclude the paper with a partial solution to these epistemic and social shortcomings. (shrink)

Abstract: This research employs a Random Forest classification model to predict and assess obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk based on a comprehensive dataset collected from individuals in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. The dataset comprises 17 attributes, including information on eating habits, physical condition, gender, age, height, and weight. The study focuses on classifying individuals into different health risk categories using machine learning algorithms. Our Random Forest model achieved remarkable performance with an accuracy, F1-score, recall, and precision all reaching (...) 97.23%. The model's success is attributed to its ability to effectively leverage attributes related to eating habits, physical condition, and demographic factors. Feature importance analysis reveals key factors contributing to accurate predictions. This paper contributes to the field of health analytics by demonstrating the effectiveness of Random Forest in predicting and categorizing health risks. The insights gained from this research have the potential to inform personalized health interventions and contribute to the advancement of precision health strategies. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of leveraging machine learning techniques for health risk assessment in diverse populations. (shrink)

Obesity is one of several targets of public health efforts related to availability of and access to healthy foods. The tension between individual food decisions and social contexts of food production, preparation, and consumption makes targeting individuals deeply problematic and yet tempting. Such individualization of responsibility for obesity and nutrition is unethical and impractical. This article warns public health campaigns against giving into the temptation to individualize responsibility, and presents an argument for why they should proceed with all (...) due caution, advising providers and public health organizations to keep in mind structural factors rather than aiming at individuals. (shrink)

Debates about obesity in bioethics tend to unfold in predictable epicycles between individual choices and behaviours and the oppressive socio-economic structures constraining them. Here, we argue that recent work from two cutting-edge research programmes in microbiology and social psychology can advance this conceptual stalemate in the literature. We begin in section 1 by discussing two promising lines of obesity research involving the human microbiome and relationship partners. Then, in section 2, we show how this research has made viable (...) novel strategies for fighting obesity, including microbial therapies and dyad-level interventions. Finally, in section 3, we consider objections to our account and conclude by arguing that attention to the most immediate features of our biological and social environment offers a middle ground solution, while also raising important new issues for bioethicists. (shrink)

At least half of American adults are overweight or obese, and the number may be as high as two-thirds. These facts have spurred anti-obesity campaigns, and those campaigns have provoked difficult questions in public health and population ethics. Should the government merely inform people about the risks of unhealthy food? May it try to change behavior by taxing unhealthy food? May it ban some foods outright? This paper proposes that we should answer these questions using familiar liberal principles. The (...) principles show that several common arguments for obesity interventions are flawed. The principles also highlight several that succeed, and those arguments point toward a new proposal for food labeling and some potential market interventions. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major global challenge. There are several risk factors associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19, including age, gender, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, and pulmonary diseases. Among these factors, patients with cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and obesity have the highest mortality rates. This paper aims to review how adjusting food and nutrition can help reduce the risk of obese patients contracting COVID-19. Various literature sources were examined, including studies on the genetics of obesity and (...) the consequences it can have, such as diabetes, heart and vascular diseases, cancer, trauma, and infection. Consequently, the role of nutrition in reducing the risk of obese patients being exposed to COVID-19 was described. It is recommended that obese patients strictly adhere to a diet that includes adequate and balanced food intake in order to reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19. (shrink)

In this paper we aim to demonstrate the enormous ethical complexity that is prevalent in child obesity cases. This complexity, we argue, favors a cautious approach. Against those perhaps inclined to blame neglectful parents, we argue that laying the blame for child obesity at the feet of parents is simplistic once the broader context is taken into account. We also show that parents not only enjoy important relational prerogatives worth defending, but that children, too, are beneficiaries of that (...) relationship in ways difficult to match elsewhere. Finally, against the backdrop of growing public concern and pressure to intervene earlier in the life cycle, we examine the perhaps unintended stigmatizing effects that labeling and intervention can have and consider a number of risks and potential harms occasioned by state interventions in these cases. (shrink)

The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2020) reported that the prevalence of obesity (≥19 years old) was 31.4% in 2011, but it increased to 33.8% in 2019 and 38.3% in 2020, which confirmed that it increased rapidly after the outbreak of COVID-19. Obesity increases not only the risk of infection with COVID-19 but also severity and fatality rate after being infected with COVID-19 compared to people with normal weight or underweight. Therefore, identifying the difference in potential (...) factors for obesity before and after the pandemic is an important issue in health science. This study identified the keywords and topics that were formed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the South Korean society and how they had been changing by conducting a web crawling of South Korea's news big data using “obesity” as a keyword. (shrink)

New York City has extensive public health regulations. Some regulations aim to reduce smoking, and they include high cigarette taxes and bans on smoking in public places such as bars, restaurants, public beaches, and public parks. Other regulations aim to combat obesity. They include regulations requiring display of calorie information on some restaurant menus and the elimination of transfats in much public cooking. One important issue is whether New York City officials -- including both public health officials and other (...) city officials -- have adequately explained the justification to the public. Explanation has practical importance; the public might not back controversial and restrictive regulations unless offered a good rationale. But explanation is also an official duty, since public officials should make their reasoning transparent to their constituents. This article argues that New York City has not adequately communicated the rationales for its regulations to the public. It then offers several suggestions for improving public communication. After laying out those suggestions, this article points out that even if communication were improved, New York City’s regulations would still raise difficult philosophical issues. Those issues are briefly discussed in the final sections. NOTE: this is a reprint of a conference presentation. (shrink)

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, such as semaglutide, and dual GLP-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonists, such as tirzepatide, have been found to be effective for treating obesity and diabetes, significantly reducing weight and the risk or predicted risk of adverse cardiovascular events. There is a global shortage of these medications that could last several years and raises questions about how limited supplies should be allocated. We propose a fair-allocation framework that enables evaluation of the ethics of (...) current practices and could guide governments, professional societies, and physicians in allocation decisions. (shrink)

This Viewpoint analyzes policies for covering GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs for obesity treatment across 13 high-income countries. It identifies four key lessons for developing coverage policies: 1) using up-to-date cost-effectiveness analyses that incorporate new evidence of benefits, 2) negotiating lower prices while preserving innovation incentives, 3) prioritizing coverage for specific populations rather than issuing blanket denials, and 4) treating obesity medications similarly to high-cost drugs for other conditions. It argues that blanket coverage denials are unethical and that countries (...) should implement targeted coverage policies that maximize benefits while managing costs. (shrink)

There is a lot of conceptual engineering going on in medical research. I substantiate this claim with two examples, the medical debate about cancer classification and about obesity as a disease I also argue that the proper target of conceptual engineering in medical research are experts’ conceptions. These are explicitly written down in documents and guidelines, and they bear on research and policies. In the second part of the chapter, I propose an externalist framework in which conceptions have both (...) the explanatory power of psychological concepts and that of semantic concepts. It is likely, however, that human activities and practices distinct from medical research, and regulated by different practices and epistemic rules, call for different targets for conceptual engineering. I conclude with indicating an open agenda of problems for philosophers of medicine interested in conceptual engineering. (shrink)

Vitamin D deficiency is a common health problem among Libyan women. Age, gender, inadequate exposure to sunlight, and obesity are common risk factors for this issue. In this study, we randomly examined 40 Libyan women (age: 17.58±10.45, mean±SD, range: 15 years to 65 years). Blood samples were taken from each participant and directly centrifuged and processed on Cobas 411 Automatic Electrochemil-uminescence Immunoassay Analyzer. Vitamin D levels were measured in ng/ml and the mean serum value was calculated for the total. (...) Body weight and height for each participant were taken to calculate the body mass index. The findings revealed that all participants are suffering from vitamin D deficiency with less than 30 ng/ml serum levels. Female participants aged between 55 and 65 years tend to have a less degree of vitamin D deficiency as compared to the other age subgroups with a mean level of 27 ng/ml of vitamin D. This study revealed the association between vitamin D levels and obesity as measured by body mass index, in contrast, it found that overweight participants have higher vitamin D levels as compared to other groups of body mass index. (shrink)

Vitamin D deficiency and its effect have attracted considerable research interest due to its relation to glucose homeostasis, insulin secretion, sensitivity and synthesis. This study aimed to evaluate vitamin D levels in patients with type II diabetes mellitus aged between 35-65 years and investigate their relations with glycemic control and obesity. The study included 74 Libyan patients with a known history of type II diabetes mellitus (33 males and 41 females). Serum glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and vitamin D levels (...) were biochemically estimated in these patients. Further, body mass index (BMI) was calculated for all diabetic patients (weight in kilogram per height in meter square). The mean level of plasma glucose level was 150.58±63.82 mg/dl (mean±SD). The mean of HbA1c level was 7.90±8.48% (mean±SD). The mean level of vitamin D was 22.75±14.97 ng/ml. The mean of BMI was 26.55±4.10 Kg per m2. The findings showed that 58.10% of the cases had vitamin D deficiency (Out of which 24.24% were males and 85.36% were females). This study showed significant differences in glucose, HbA1c, vitamin D and BMI between male and female patients. Moreover, elderly ages for both sexes had adverse effects on vitamin D status. Vitamin D levels have negatively been correlated with levels of glucose, HbA1c and BMI. It is concluded that vitamin D deficiency has an adverse effect on glucose homeostasis in patients with type II diabetes mellitus and this can be a contributing risk factor in complications of type II diabetes mellitus development in Libyan patients. (shrink)

Lack of physical activity is one of the main cause of obesity. Currently, scientists proposed that teenagers and women are overweight or obese than men in Bangladesh. Furthermore, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are becoming more prevalent in Bangladesh. By 2050, the illness burden of non-communicable diseases will have a significant impact on the health budget. To reduce non-communicable diseases, physical activity is one of the options. However, the lack of public facilities for physical activities in each community is a concern. (...) According to the Department of Military Estate Administration, Central Circle, DOHS (Defense Officers' Housing Scheme) has a total of 2966 plots and 396.6327 acres of area (640 acres =1 square mile) including 5 DOSH in Bangladesh. However, each DOHS has all the public facilities including structures streets, parks, walking paths, squares, gyms, cultural and sports grounds, walkways, waterfronts, lakes, mosques, cafeterias, public toilets, sitting areas for elderly or passersby, etc for physical activities specially for women, children, and the disabled people. Gulshan, Baridhara, Banani, and Dhanmondi areas are other good examples from Bangladesh where dwellers specially, women and children have facilities for physical activities. Sangmoo Kim, urban specialist said, “it is not over-ambitious thinking to have public facilities; it is a basic need for each city dweller for a healthy life”. This report aims to explore what are the policy drawbacks of the Government of Bangladesh not providing public facilities to perform physical activities in each area. (shrink)

Population obesity and associated morbidities pose significant public health and economic burdens in the United Kingdom, United States, and globally. As a response, public health initiatives often seek to change individuals’ unhealthy behavior, with the dual aims of improving their health and conserving health care resources. One such initiative—taxes on sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSB)—has sparked considerable ethical debate. Prominent in the debate are arguments seeking to demonstrate the supposed impermissibility of SSB taxes and similar policies on the grounds that they (...) interfere with individuals’ freedom and autonomy. Commentators have often assumed that a policy intended to restrict or change private individuals’ consumption behavior will necessarily curtail freedom and, as a corollary, will undermine individuals’ autonomy with respect to their consumption choices. Yet this assumption involves a conceptual mistake. To address the misunderstanding, it’s necessary to attend to the differences between negative liberty, freedom of options, and autonomy. Ultimately, concerns about negative liberty, freedom, and autonomy do not provide strong grounds for opposing SSB taxes. (shrink)

Lately in the past couple of years, there are an increasing in the normal rate of playing computer games or video games compared to the E-learning content that are introduced for the safety of our children, and the impact of the video game addictiveness that ranges from (Musculoskeletal issues, Vision problems and Obesity). Furthermore, this paper introduce an intelligent tutoring system for both parent and their children for enhancement the experience of gaming and tell us about the health problems (...) and how we can solve them, with an easy user interface that way can our children be happy and excited about the information and their health. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that the extent to which a human trait is genetically caused can causally depend upon whether the trait is categorized within human genetics as genetically caused. This makes the kindgenetically caused traitan interactive kind. I demonstrate that this thesis is both conceptually coherent and empirically plausible. I outline the core rationale of this thesis and demonstrate its conceptual coherence by drawing upon Waters’ (2007) analysis of genetic causation. I add empirical plausibility to the thesis by (...) describing a hypothetical but empirically plausible mechanism by which the fact that obesity is categorized as genetically caused within human genetics increases the extent to which obesity is in fact genetically caused. (shrink)

Contemporary Western societies are obsessed with the “obesity epidemic,” dieting, and fitness. Fat people violate the Western conscience by violating a thinness norm. In virtue of violating the thinness norm, fat people suffer many varied consequences. Is their suffering morally permissible, or even obligatory? In this paper, I argue that the answer is no. I examine contemporary philosophical accounts of oppression and draw largely on the work of Sally Haslanger to generate a set of conditions sufficient for some phenomena (...) to count as oppression, and I illustrate the account’s value using the example of gender oppression. I then apply the account to fat people, examine empirical evidence, and argue that the suffering of fat people counts as oppression. (shrink)

The rapid rise of generative AI, including LLMs, has prompted a great deal of concern, both within and beyond academia. One of these concerns is that generative models embed, reproduce, and therein potentially perpetuate all manner of bias. The present study offers an alternative perspective: exploring the potential of LLMs to detect bias in human generated text. Our target is genetic essentialism in obesity discourse in Australian print media. We develop and deploy an LLM-based classification model to evaluate a (...) large sample of relevant articles (n=26,163). We show that our model detects genetic essentialist biases as reliably as human experts; and find that, while genes figure less prominently in popular discussions of obesity than previous work might suggest, when genetic information is invoked, it is often presented in a biased way. Implications for future work are discussed. (shrink)

Calling someone fat is not only cruel and unkind—it also subordinates them. While the sharpest and most immediate harms of fatphobic bullying are emotional and psychological, these vary according to the resilience of the target. What one person can laugh off, another feels deeply, perhaps for years. But ‘fat-calling’ does not only have individual harms—it also perpetuates a subordinating social structure ranking fat people as inferior. Despite recent work on obesity and fatphobia, the conversational dynamics of ascribing fatness to (...) someone else (rather than oneself) are relatively unexplored, especially in philosophy. This paper argues that fat-calling assigns its target a subordinate discourse role, constraining their subsequent conversational behaviour and permitting further discriminatory behaviour from interlocutors. And these conversational norm-changes alter the initial permissibility conditions of future conversations to the detriment of fat people. This is not to say that fat-calling is morally equivalent to slurs and hate speech—but it does show that it leverages similar conversational mechanisms to entrench injustice. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to argue that ontological choices in scientific practice undermine common formulations of the value-free ideal in science. First, I argue that the truth values of scientific statements depend on ontological choices. For example, statements about entities such as species, race, memory, intelligence, depression, or obesity are true or false relative to the choice of a biological, psychological, or medical ontology. Second, I show that ontological choices often depend on non-epistemic values. On the basis (...) of these premises, I argue that it is often neither possible nor desirable to evaluate scientific statements independently of non-epistemic values. Finally, I suggest that considerations of ontological choices do not only challenge the value-free ideal but also help to specify positive roles of non-epistemic values in an often neglected area of scientific practice. (shrink)

Oppressive ideology regularly misrepresents features of structural injustice as normal or appropriate. Resisting such injustice therefore requires critical examination of the evaluative judgments encoded in shared concepts. In this paper, I diagnose a mechanism of ideological misevaluation, which I call "hermeneutical misfit." Hermeneutical misfit occurs when thick concepts, or concepts which both describe and evaluate, mobilize ideologically warped evaluative judgments which do not fit the facts (e.g. "slutty"). These ill-fitted thick concepts in turn are regularly deployed as if they merely (...) describe--a phenomenon I call "descriptive masquerade." I argue that, via descriptive masquerade, ill-fitted thick concepts smuggle in warped evaluative judgments alongside apparently value-neutral ‘mere facts’, a process which both reinforces those judgments and increases the difficulty of critique. I investigate the concept "obesity" as an example: scientists and medical practitioners will deploy this concept as if it "merely" describes, enabling the smuggling of a host of warped evaluative judgments. I suggest that, to resist this process, we should develop collective consciousness and articulate "meta-hermeneutical resources," or thick concepts which encode critique of other, ill-fitted concepts (e.g. "slut-shaming" or "fat-shaming"). (shrink)

Abstract: Fast food refers to quick, convenient, and ready-to-eat meals that are usually sold at chain restaurants or take-out establishments. Fast food is often criticized for its unhealthy ingredients, such as high levels of salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats, and its contribution to the growing obesity epidemic. Despite this, fast food remains popular due to its affordability, convenience, and widespread availability. Many fast food chains have attempted to respond to these criticisms by offering healthier options, such as salads and (...) grilled chicken sandwiches, and by using more natural and locally sourced ingredients. The aim in this paper to propose a deep learning model for the classification of fast food dishes. The proposed model, Xception, was trained on natural images and was fine-tuned to make up the fast food meals. The researchers collected the Fast Food V2 dataset from Kaggle depository, the dataset, contained 20,000 images. The dataset has ten labels of food images comprised of Baked Potato, Burger, Crispy Chicken, Donut, Fries, Hot Dog, Pizza, Sandwich, Taco, and Taquito. The dataset was split into three sets: training, validation and testing. The accuracy, F1-score, recall, precision on the separate test set showed that classification of fast food was accuracy (95.13%), Precision (95.34%), Recall (95.13%), and F1-Score (95.14%). (shrink)

This article evaluates seven strategies for managing the high costs of GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) like semaglutide and tirzepatide for weight management: complete exclusion of coverage, annual cost increase caps, lifetime cost caps, tiered access, formulary reevaluation, subscription payment models, and patent reform. The authors assess each strategy against three ethical objectives: benefiting people and preventing harm, showing equal moral concern, and mitigating disadvantage. Complete coverage exclusions, arbitrary reimbursement caps, and lifetime limits are deemed unethical as they fail to meet (...) these objectives. Tiering access based on relative benefit is considered justifiable, though current implementation often unfairly favors diabetes over obesity treatment. The authors recommend formulary reevaluation as the most ethical approach for smaller health plans, allowing them to prioritize more cost-effective treatments. For larger payers with market power and for governments, subscription payment models and patent reforms are potentially ethical solutions if implemented sustainably. The authors conclude that health plans should avoid ad hoc restrictions on GLP-1RAs in favor of comprehensive policy reforms that ensure sustainable access to these and future breakthrough treatments. (shrink)

This study employs machine learning to predict diabetes using a Kaggle dataset with 13 features. Our three-layer model achieves an accuracy of 98.73% and an average error of 0.01%. Feature analysis identifies Age, Gender, Polyuria, Polydipsia, Visual blurring, sudden weight loss, partial paresis, delayed healing, irritability, Muscle stiffness, Alopecia, Genital thrush, Weakness, and Obesity as influential predictors. These findings have clinical significance for early diabetes risk assessment. While our research addresses gaps in the field, further work is needed to (...) enhance model generalizability. (shrink)

RD, a 32-year-old male, was admitted to the hospital with hypoxic COVID pneumonia–a potentially life-threatening condition characterized by dangerously low levels of oxygen in the body- during one of the pandemic’s surges. While RD’s age gave the clinical team hope for his prognosis, his ability to recover was complicated by his being unvaccinated and having multiple comorbidities, including diabetes and obesity. His condition worsened to the point that he required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a machine that maintains the functioning (...) of a person’s heart and lungs. -/- Given its scarcity–only 264 of the over 6,000 hospitals in the United States offer ECMO, according to the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization–as well as its high cost and the inadequate supply of staff required to maintain it, ECMO primarily serves as a bridge to support critically ill patients until they can receive an organ transplant or implanted medical device. For RD, ECMO was started to support him until he could be evaluated for, and possibly receive, a bilateral lung transplant. Despite its intended use as a treatment of last resort, some patients can remain on ECMO for weeks or months. And some are awake, alert, and capable of medical decision-making. -/- RD was one such patient. However, the transplant evaluation committee ruled out RD’s candidacy for bilateral lung transplantation, based on his poor potential for recovery and a lack of family and friends to provide post-transplant support. This determination raised the prospect of continued ECMO treatment being a bridge to nowhere. But RD was comfortable on ECMO and wanted to remain in the ICU. The ICU intensivist contacted the ethics consult service with questions about whether continued ECMO support was medically and ethically inappropriate. (shrink)

Addressing the question of how medicine should engage with people who consider their clinical disease condition to be importantly constitutive of their identity, this article focuses on one group—advocates for the fat acceptance (FA) or body positivity movement in American society. Drawing on philosophical analysis, I try to show that FA and physician communities represent different traditions within the larger culture and that whether obesity should be considered a disease is a culture battle. I argue that diseases (medical) and (...) illnesses (cultural) are 2 different designations of clinical symptoms and that both disease and illness designations can change over time or be uncertain. (shrink)

Today’s everyone normal life can include a normal rate of playing computer games or video games; but what about an excessive or compulsive use of video games that impact on our life? Our kids, who usually spend a lot of time in playing video games will likely have a trouble in paying attention to their school lessons. In this paper, we introduce an expert system to help users in getting the correct diagnosis of the health problem of video game addictions (...) that range from (Musculoskeletal issues, Vision problems and Obesity). Moreover, this expert system provides information about the problem and tell us how we can solve it. SL5 Object expert system language was used to design and implement the expert system. (shrink)

In their target article, Lynch, Parke, and O’Malley argue against the quick application of causal, interventionist explanatory frameworks to microbiomes and their purported role in many disparate states, from obesity to anxiety. I think the authors have undersold the force of their argument. A careful consideration of the scope of their claims, made easier by a parallel drawn from the history of explanation in neuroscience, yields a productive pessimism: that causal explanations likely operate at the wrong level of analysis (...) for dynamic, distributed, Quineian entities like the microbiome. That is, we shouldn’t expect causal explanations for microbiomes at all—and this includes the authors’ own “microbiome success story” of C. difficile. Neuroscience, with its own computationally challenging, dynamic entity—the brain—may provide lessons for how to approach something like predictive control over the microbiome. (shrink)

An abundance of data unequivocally shows that exercise can be an effective tool in the fight against obesity and its associated co-morbidities. Indeed, physical activity can be more effective than widely-used pharmaceutical interventions. Whilst metformin reduces the incidence of diabetes by 31% (as compared with a placebo) in both men and women across different racial and ethnic groups, lifestyle intervention (including exercise) reduces the incidence by 58%. In this context, it is notable that a group of prominent medics and (...) exercise scientists recently sent a well-publicised letter to the General Medical Council and Medical Schools Council calling for the introduction of evidence-based lifestyle education into all medical curricula. The letter warns that there is a lack of understanding of the impact that exercise and nutrition can have on physical health amongst doctors. In the absence of an educational overhaul, the signatories warn that the government is likely to fail to reach its goal of preventing tens of thousands of premature deaths from heart disease and cancer by 2020. Whilst we agree with the need to address this apparent lack of understanding, we argue that the ethical justification of doing so is not limited to this broadly beneficence-based justification. There is also a justification grounded in the duty of non-maleficence, that is, the duty to avoid unreasonably harming patients. This duty requires that doctors refrain from (i) preventing patients from undergoing beneficial treatment without good reason, (ii) exposing patients to unreasonable risks and (iii) reducing the therapeutic effect of an effective medical intervention. This requires an understanding of the physical impact of exercise. (shrink)

Public health care interventions—regarding vaccination, obesity, and HIV, for example—standardly take the form of information dissemination across a community. But information networks can vary importantly between different ethnic communities, as can levels of trust in information from different sources. We use data from the Greater Pittsburgh Random Household Health Survey to construct models of information networks for White and Black communities--models which reflect the degree of information contact between individuals, with degrees of trust in information from various sources correlated (...) with positions in that social network. With simple assumptions regarding belief change and social reinforcement, we use those modeled networks to build dynamic agent-based models of how information can be expected to flow and how beliefs can be expected to change across each community. With contrasting information from governmental and religious sources, the results show importantly different dynamic patterns of belief polarization within the two communities. (shrink)

Food and beverage firms are frequently criticised for their impact on the spread of non-communicable diseases like obesity and diabetes type 2. In this article we explore under what conditions the sales and marketing of unhealthy food and beverage products is irresponsible. Starting from the notion of ordinary morality we argue that firms have a duty to respect people’s autonomy and adhere to the principle of non-maleficence in both market and non-market environments. We show how these considerations are relevant (...) when thinking about immoral behaviour in the food and beverage industry, and identify under what conditions sales and marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to adults and children is wrong. Based on this analysis we argue that firms should take into account: whether consumers are able to identify manipulative marketing, the degree of manipulation, as well as the negative impact a product has on health. We hold that for the food industry to act responsible it should re-evaluate the marketing of unhealthy products to adults and refrain from marketing to children. We conclude this study by making several recommendations on how the food industry should interact with consumers and highlight what changes need to be made in corporate practice. (shrink)

In this article I respond to the obligation to institute the policy of decoupled crop subsidies as is provided in Pilchman’s article “Money for Nothing: Are decoupled Crop Subsidies Just?” With growing problems of poor nutrition in the United States there have been two different but related phenomenon that have appeared. First, the obesity epidemic that has ravaged the nation and left an increasing number of people very unhealthy; and second, the phenomenon of food deserts where individuals are unable (...) to access fresh fruits and vegetables. A possible solution to this problem, as has been proposed by some, is to institute a decoupled crop subsidy that would increase the production of fruits and vegetables in the United States. In this paper I explore the possible unintended consequences of this policy and how it may violate liberal international conceptions of justice. I conclude that there must be further empirical research before anyone can call decoupled crop subsidies an obligation to justice. (shrink)

Objective: Acceptable preoperative psychosocial indicators of weight loss after obesity surgery in morbidly obese(MO) patients are still unknown. In this study, the association between personality traits, multidimensional perceived social support, and the percentage of excess weight loss (EWL) following obesity surgery was researched in MO patients. -/- Methods: Participants in this prospective study were recruited from MO patients who applied to the hospital’s obesity unit between July 2021 and June 2022. The study comprised 84 MO individuals. The (...) Temperament and Personality Inventory (TCI) was used to evaluate the personality traits of the MO. Perceived social support was measured using the multidimensional perceived social support scale. The percentage of weight loss after obesity surgery was compared with personality traits and perceived social support scores. Results: The mean age of the patients who were MO was 36.7 ±8.7 years. There were 22 men (25.3%) and 62 women (74.7%). The mean preoperative BMI was 46.2 ±63. The perceived social support score was 68.0±16.4. A univariate analysis found a positive relationship between 6 months and one year’s EWL and Self-Transcendence, a TCI subcategory (p=0.011,p=0.023). -/- Conclusion: Obesity treatment is a complex situation that requires a multidisciplinary approach. Given the potential physiological and psychological consequences of obesity surgery, it is critical to uncover psychological predictive factors such as personality traits that boost the success of obesity surgery and are connected with weight loss. As a result, knowing the individuals who self-transcendence before obesity surgery may be useful in predicting the success of obesity surgery and planning treatment. This requires large-scale research. (shrink)

Several European and North American states encourage or even require, via good Samaritan and duty to rescue laws, that persons assist others in distress. This paper offers a utilitarian and contractualist defense of this view as applied to corporations. It is argued that just as we should sometimes frown on bad Samaritans who fail to aid persons in distress, we should also frown on bad corporate Samaritans who neglect to use their considerable multinational power to undertake disaster relief or to (...) confront widespread social ills such as those currently befalling public health (obesity) and the environment (climate change). As such, the corporate duty to assist approach provides a novel justification for sustainable business practices in such cases. The paper concludes by arguing that traditional stakeholder approaches have not articulated this duty of assistance obligation, though a new utilitarian stakeholder theory by Thomas Jones and Will Felps may be coextensive. (shrink)

This edited volume is designed to explore different perspectives of culture, identity and social development using the impact of the digital age as a common thread, aiming at interdisciplinary audiences. Cases of communities and individuals using new technology as a tool to preserve and explore their cultural heritage alongside new media as a source for social orientation ranging from language acquisition to health-related issues will be covered. Therefore, aspects such as Art and Cultural Studies, Media and Communication, Behavioral Science, Psychology, (...) Philosophy and innovative approaches used by creative individuals are included. From the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, to the Maoris of New Zealand, to the mystical teachings of Sufi brotherhoods, the significance of the oral and written traditions and their current relation to online activities shall be discussed in the opening article. The book continues with a closer look at obesity awareness support groups and their impact on social media, Facebook usage in language learning context, smartphone addiction and internet dependency, as well as online media reporting of controversial ethical issues. The Digital progress has already left its dominating mark as the world entered the 21st century. Without a doubt, as technology continues its ascent, society will be faced with new and altering values in an effort to catch-up with this extraordinary Digitization, adapt satisfactorily in order to utilize these strong developments in everyday life. (shrink)

A study of the literature and our own observations allow us to conclude that COVID-19 has become a provoking factor in the onset or aggravation of endocrinopathies. The number of newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus has increased, and in persons with an established diagnosis of diabetes, the likelihood of a severe course, complications and mortality has been noted. One of the reasons for this was the lack of routine monitoring and treatment of patients during the quarantine period. The highest percentage of (...) deaths from coronavirus was noted among overweight patients. In the lungs of an obese patient and Kovi d -Infection with pulmonary fibrosis occurs more pronounced than without obesity. The condition of the thyroid gland, adrenal glands and pituitary gland is negatively affected by both infection and the methods of treatment that were taken to save patients. (shrink)

Abstract: Background: Vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency prevalent in all age groups across the world is common in obesity and may play an important role in the risk factors of metabolic syndrome (MS). Objectives: This cross-sectional study is to evaluate the relationship between levels of adiponectin and circulating 25(OH)D, and its effect on metabolic biomarker among overweight/obese female students. Methods: Three hundred female students; with mean age 20.9 ± 3.2 years were attending the Aljouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. They were randomly (...) selected from university during the studying year 2015 – 2016. Anthropometric and biochemical indices were determined. Results: The study showed 19% of the female’s student were either overweight or obese (15% and 4%, respectively). The frequency of MS diagnosis among the students was 17%, with 13% and 4% had either three or four risk factors, respectively. Overweight/obese subjects had significantly worse anthropometric and biochemical characteristics, including waist/hip ratio, blood pressure (BP), fasting blood glucose (BG), insulin, insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), triglyceride levels (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (LDL-C), leptin, adiponectin, leptin/adiponectin ratio and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (HDL-C) compared to normal weight. Of the subjects diagnosed with MS, 59% had mild and 8.6% had severe 25(OH)D deficiency. There was negative association between 25(OH)D and both FBG and HOMA-IR among young women obese/overweight. Conclusion: In our study, it suggested that low level of adiponectin was strongly correlated with low 25(OH)D levels. Also, the prevalence of MS tends to increase with high occurrence rate of low circulating 25(OH)D levels that is, known cause poor glycemic control and prediction of cardiovascular outcomes. (shrink)

Lately in the past couple of years, there are an increasing in the normal rate of playing computer games or video games compared to the E-learning content that are introduced for the safety of our children, and the impact of the video game addictiveness that ranges from (Musculoskeletal issues, Vision problems and Obesity). Furthermore, this paper introduce an intelligent tutoring system for both parent and their children for enhancement the experience of gaming and tell us about the health problems (...) and how we can solve them, with an easy user interface that way can our children be happy and excited about the information and their health. (shrink)

This study aims to identify the following factors that affect the physical inactivity of the students in saint joseph college aged 12- 16 years old. It aims to understand the impact of this crisis and how to address this pressing issue. A descriptive- survey research design was utilized to document the respondents' behavior, demographics, and experiences correlated to the questions provided. The questionnaire includes 15-item questions that seek to gather information on their basic profile, current experiences, and behavior towards physical (...) activities. The study discovers that teenagers aged 12-16 years old are inactive in physical activities and sports due to some reasons like exposure to too much time to gadgets, whether the activity provides a fun and offers socialization, lack of motivation, occupied schedules for other matters, the covid- 19 pandemic, costly sports equipment on the sports of their interest, the unavailability of playing area, and lastly health concerns. Therefore, physical inactivity only alleviates certain issues, physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially. Physical inactivity is the result of demotivated individuals, physical illiteracy, prolonged screen time, and health issues. (shrink)

In our reply to critiques of our GLP-1 receptor agonist allocation framework, we explain that using potential years of life lost (PYLL) as a metric addresses racial health disparities without explicitly allocating resources based on race. This approach is "racism-conscious" and has legal and ethical challenges over race-based approaches. Meanwhile, though acknowledging the importance of cardiovascular risk assessment, we maintain in response to other interlocutors that focusing solely on immediate risk would ignore the broader goal of mitigating disadvantage. We emphasize (...) that our framework balances multiple ethical objectives beyond just maximizing medical benefits. (shrink)

In hyper-modern society, food has become a source of endemic discontent. Many food products are seen as ‘tainted’; literally, figuratively or both. A psychoanalytic approach, I will argue, may help us to come to terms with our alimentary predicaments. What I envision is a ‘depth ethics’ focusing on some of the latent tensions, conflicts and ambiguities at work in the current food debate. First, I will outline some promising leads provided by two prominent psychoanalytic authors, namely Sigmund Freud and Jacques (...) Lacan. Subsequently, I will elucidate why our chronic dependency on high-tech food production apparently fails to meet consumer needs, focusing on some scenarios of escape, such as anorexia, cultured meat and ersatz food. And I will use ‘genres of the imagination’ to flesh out how food consumption has become a podium for enacting cultural symptoms, moral outcries, provocative identities and practices of the Self. Notably, I will discuss a story by Franz Kafka, a painting by Pablo Picasso and a food novel by Margaret Atwood. (shrink)