In biomedicine, thin is still in: Obesity surveillance among racialized, (im)migrant, and female bodies

Abstract

Currently there is a plethora of research literature which constructs obesity as an alarming new global pandemic associated with a multitude of acute and chronic diseases rooted in lifestyle factors. Although most of these claims related to obesity are well accepted in the research community, some challenges remain. For instance, lifestyle factors only partially explain the risks of developing obesity. In this paper, I have advocated for greater caution in interpreting some of the medical claims of obesity due to the epistemological and methodological assumptions that inform certain groups of obesity researchers. While most of the literature has reported lifestyle factors and behavior modification as the major mechanisms to achieving health and wellbeing, a few scholars have raised issues about structural factors.