The clinical debate on the status of obesity as a disease has been protracted.

But in the last decade, medical organisations around the globe from the WHO to the World Obesity Federation have issued position statements declaring that the condition is a complex, chronic, relapsing disease process.

It is significant given that, in the social sciences, this ‘medicalisation’ of obesity is often claimed to contribute to weight stigma, fatphobia, and the marginalisation or oppression of people of higher weight. 

And this was echoed recently by Taryn Brumfitt, the Australian of the Year and body image advocate, who suggested that GPs risked turning patients off seeking care by raising issues around their weight during short consults.