The background and pro and con arguments were written by ProCon.org staff based upon input from the following sources.
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2. | Goodard Danai, et al., "The Preventable Causes of Death in the United States: Comparative Risk Assessment of Dietary, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Risk Factors," plosmedicine.org, Apr. 28, 2009 |
3. | USDA, "What We Eat in America, NHANES 2009-2010," usda.gov, 2012 |
4. | Prospective Studies Collaboration, "Body-Mass Index and Cause-Specific Mortality in 900,000 Adults: Collaborative Analyses of 57 Prospective Studies," Lancet, Mar. 28, 2009 |
5. | Jeffrey M. Friedman, MD, PhD, "The Real Cause of Obesity," Newsweek, Sep. 10, 2009 |
6. | Albert J. Stunkard, MD, et al., "The Body-Mass Index of Twins Who Have Been Reared Apart," New England Journal of Medicine, May 4, 1990 |
7. | USDA, "How Many Can I Have?," choosemyplate.gov (accessed Apr. 21, 2014) |
8. | AAFP, "Diagnosis and Management of Obesity," aafp.org, 2013 |
9. | David B. Allison, PhD, et al., "Obesity as a Disease: A White Paper on Evidence and Arguments Commissioned by the Council of the Obesity Society," obesityjournal.org, Apr. 2008 |
10. | National Institutes of Health (NIH), "Understanding Adult Obesity," win.niddk.nih.gov, Nov. 2008 |
11. | World Health Organization, "Obesity and Overweight Fact Sheet No311," who.int, Mar. 2013 |
12. | CDC, "Adult Obesity Facts," cdc.gov, Mar. 28, 2014 |
13. | Cynthia L. Ogden, Margaret D. Carroll, Brian K. Kit, and Katherine M. Flegal, "Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011-2012," JAMA, Feb. 26, 2014 |
14. | MayoClinic, "Obesity: Definition," mayoclinic.com, June 7, 2013 |
15. | Hilary Parker, "A Sweet Problem: Princeton Researchers Find That High-Fructose Corn Syrup Prompts Considerably More Weight Gain," princeton.edu, Mar. 22, 2010 |
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17. | Mayo Clinic, "Obesity: Causes," mayoclinic.com, June 7, 2013 |
18. | Tara Parker Pope, "Less Active at Work, Americans Have Packed on Pounds," nytimes.com, May 25, 2011 |
19. | American Medical Association House of Delegates, "Recognition of Obesity as a Disease," npr.org, June 19, 2013 |
20. | Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 26CFR1.213-1, .irs.gov, 2002 |
21. | National Health Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), "NCHS Data on Obesity," ![]() |
22. | Eric A. Finkelstein, MD, Justin G. Trogdon, PhD, Joel W. Cohen, PhD, and William Dietz, MD, PhD, "Annual Medical Spending Attributable to Obesity: Payer-And Service-Specific Estimates," Health Affairs, July 27, 2009 |
23. | National Consumers League, "New Obesity Survey: Many Americans Think They're 'Lighter' Than They Are, Most Not Being Told by a Doctor They Need to Lose Weight," nclnet.org, June 19, 2007 |
24. | Gallup, "Public: Lifestyle, Not Disease, Causes Obesity," gallup.com, Aug. 10, 2004 |
25. | H.R. 3962, "The Affordable Health Care for America Act," ![]() |
26. | Rachel Rettner, "Is Obesity a Disease? Doctors Debate," livescience.com, June 27, 2012 |
27. | Food and Drug Administration (FDA), "Regulations on Statements Made for Dietary Supplements Concerning the Effect of the Product on the Structure or Function of the Body; Final Rule," ![]() |
28. | National Institutes of Health (NIH), "Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults," ![]() |
29. | World Health Organization (WHO), "Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic," who.int, 2000 |
30. | American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), "Obesity: A Growing & Dangerous Public Health Challenge," gi.org, 2008 |
31. | US Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), "CMS Manual System Pub. 100-03 Medicare National Coverage Determinations," ![]() |
32. | Gallup, "Mississippians Most Obese, Montanans Least Obese," gallup.com, Mar. 4, 2014 |
33. | "American Medical Association House of Delegates Resolution: 420: Recognition of Obesity as a Disease," npr.org, June 19, 2013 |
34. | Robert Thomas, "Dr. Thomas's Opinions on Corpulence," The Medical Advisor and Guide to Health and Long Life, Feb. 12, 1825 |
35. | G.A. Bray, "Obesity Is a Chronic, Relapsing Neurochemical Disease," International Journal of Obesity, 2004 |
36. | Surgeon General, "Overweight and Obesity: Health Consequences," surgeongeneral.com, Nov. 19, 2013 |
37. | Jeffrey Friedman, "Obesity Is Genetic," newsweek.com, Sep. 9, 2009 |
38. | Albert J. Stunkard, Jennifer R. Harris, Nancy L. Pedersen, and Gerald E. McClearn, "The Body-Mass Index of Twins Who Have Been Reared Apart," New England Journal of Medicine, May 24, 1990 |
39. | American Medical Association, "AMA Adopts New Policies on Second Day of Voting at Annual Meeting," ama-assn.org, June 18, 2013 |
40. | Laurel Herold, "High BMI Might Mean a Longer Life. Eat Up?," healthtalk.umn.edu, Jan. 17, 2013 |
41. | Patrick J. Skerrett, "Overweight and Healthy: The Concept of Metabolically Healthy Obesity," health.harvard.edu, Sep. 24, 2013 |
42. | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Obesity: Halting the Epidemic by Making Health Easier, At a Glance 2011," cdc.gov, May 26, 2011 |
43. | Mayo Clinic, "Obesity: Causes," mayoclinic.com, June 7, 2013 |
44. | Huffington Post, "The New (Ab)Normal: Portion Sizes Today vs. In the 1950s (Infographic)," huffingtonpost.com, May 23, 2012 |
45. | Helen W. Wu and Roland Sturm, "What's on the Menu? A Review of the Energy and Nutritional Content of US Chain Restaurant Menus," Public Health Nutrition, Jan. 2013 |
46. | American College of Gastroenterology, "ACG Obesity Initiative," gi.org, 2014 |
47. | American Heart Association, "Treating Obesity as a Disease," heart.org, Apr. 14, 2014 |
48. | Harvard School of Public Health, "Obesity Prevention Source: Health Risks," hsph.harvard.edu (accessed Jan. 10, 2014) |
49. | Curt Anderson, "IRS Recognizes Obesity as a Disease," americanobesity.org, Apr. 2, 2002 |
50. | FDA, "Questions and Answers - The FDA's Obesity Working Group Report," fda.gov, June 2, 2013 |
51. | Mary MacVean, "Medical Cost of Childhood Obesity Is $19,000, Researchers Say," latimes.com, Apr. 7, 2014 |
52. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "The State of Food and Agriculture," fao.org, 2013 |
53. | CIA, "The World Factbook: Nauru," cia.gov, Mar. 27, 2014 |
54. | National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), "Economic Explanations of Increased Obesity," nber.org (accessed Apr. 24, 2014) |
55. | David S. Ludwig and Mark I. Friedman, "Always Hungry? Here's Why," nytimes.com, May 16, 2014 |
56. | Lizzie Parry, "Do YOU Have the Obesity Gene? Scientists Discover Defective DNA Affects Impulse Eating and Food Choices," dailymail.co.uk, May 28, 2014 |
57. | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: NCHS Factsheet," cdc.gov, Jan. 2016 |
58. | Global BMI Mortality Collaboration, "Body-Mass Index and All-Cause Mortality: Individual-Participant-Data Meta-Analysis of 239 Prospective Studies in Four Continents," thelancet.com, July 13, 2016 |
59. | Sarah Boseley, "Obesity Causes Premature Death, Concluded Study of Studies," theguardian.com, July 13, 2016 |
60. | Susan Scutti, "The Weirder Side of Obesity: Genetic Forms of Obesity Are Rare Yet Numerous," cnn.com, Mar. 27, 2017 |
61. | Y. Kaur, R.J. de Souza, W.T. Gibson, and D. Meyre, "A Systematic Review of Genetic Syndromes with Obesity," Obesity Reviews, Mar. 27, 2017 |
62. | Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, "The State of Obesity 2018: Better Policies for a Healthier America," tfah.org, Sep. 2018 |
63. | Andrew Stokes and Samuel H. Preston, "How Smoking Affects the Proportion of Deaths Attributable to Obesity: Assessing the Role of Relative Risks and Weight Distributions," BMJ Open, 2016 |
64. | World Health Organization, "Prevalence of Obesity among Adults, BMI [Greater than or Equal to] 30, Age-Standardized Estimates by Country," who.int, Sep, 22, 2017 |
65. | The State of Obesity, "Obesity Rates among Youth Ages 10 to 17)," stateofobesity.org, Oct. 2018 |
66. | The State of Obesity, "Healthcare Costs of Obesity," stateofobesity.org (accessed Jan. 3, 2019) |
67. | Roni Caryn Rabin, "Obesity Linked to Severe Coronavirus Disease, Especially for Younger Patients," nytimes.com, Apr. 16, 2020 |