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Comment by sodality2 | Hacker News Reader

They don't support an unhealthy lifestyle any more than a miracle pill that stopped a harmful drug addiction would. Would you oppose its release since it's not actually "natural" to use medicine to stop your addiction, when you should instead use pure willpower? This simply doesn't make sense.

We live in a world of enormous abundance, exacerbated by companies min-maxing foods to have the most addictive properties humanly possible, at cheap prices.

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I realize obesity is a major problem, but so is neuroticism about health, weight, and diet. I agree with the nagging feeling that using a drug to address hunger is likely to have negative consequences for some people.

EDIT: obsession -> neuroticism

> I realize obesity is a major problem, but so is obsession about health and weight.

The scales of the two problems are not even remotely comparable.

I don't think this is true at all. Peoples' obsession with solving obesity as a cure-all for human health deserves pushback. There's also a concerning degree of moralizing it that has no place in our culture but has taken firm root.

In 1990, no US state had more than 20% obesity. In 2018, no US state had less than 20% obesity.

[0]: https://obesity.procon.org/us-obesity-levels-by-state/ and https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/data-by-policy/

Obesity has been linked to a huge number of health harms and they've been known for decades.

[1]: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/obe... and https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-manageme...

I think you may be right that there's room for nuance about obesity, especially moralization about it, but you simply cannot deny that it's a huge problem in the US

> I think you may be right that there's room for nuance about obesity, especially moralization about it, but you simply cannot deny that it's a huge problem in the US

Of course not. I just don't like how most conversations about health get subsumed into the much less productive conversation about how destructive obesity is.

I mean obesity slowly kills you. It's no different than being an alcoholic or a smoker. There's really no healthy way to be those things, the thing itself is destructive.

The reality is, to me, obesity is born of addiction. Which is why ozempic is exciting. Because it's not a solution that relies on moralizing or fatphobia or shaming.

I don't oppose the use of this drug or its release. People should be allowed to do what they will. I see harm in celebrating the drug as a cure to obesity. Of course, certain diseases may make it easier for you to gain weight. Though obesity is not like cancer, it is a condition brought on by unhealthy behaviours

I think you're overestimating your knowledge of what causes obesity.

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