‘Fat Ethics’ – The Obesity Discourse and Body Politics

‘Fat Ethics’ – The Obesity Discourse and Body Politics

In recent years, significant attention has been given in the popular and academic press to an ‘obesity crisis’ that, purportedly, is both ever increasing and sweeping across the western world. In this paper, we raise a number of ethical issues about the ways in which discourses around this crisis have been socially constructed and publicly represented. We begin by outlining the ways in which th...

Obesity, body fat distribution and breast cancer.

Abstract Strong epidemiological data exists implicating anthropometric risk factors in breast cancer aetiology. In premenopausal women the risk of breast cancer increases with increased height, yet decreases with increasing weight and BMI. Although the evidence is not strong, a counter-intuitive positive relationship between central adiposity and premenopausal breast cancer risk is emerging. In...

ethics and politics

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The politics of embryonic discourse.

Body fat and cardiovascular risk: understanding the obesity paradox.

Large studies of initially healthy men and women consistently link adiposity with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Compared with a reference body mass index (BMI) ,25 kg/m, the relative risk of dying during the next decade ranges from 1.2 for overweight (25–29.9 kg/m) to 3.8 for severely obese ( 40 kg/m) subjects, after adjustment for age, smoking, alcohol, and physical activity. Abd...