Obesity as a social phenomenon: A narrative review

Abstract

Background: obesity is one of the most prevalent diseases all over the world. Because of its high social impact, the broadest possible approach on several levels - and not limited only to clinical aspect - is needed to better understand and face the challenges obesity poses to public health.

Objectives: to analyse, through the main evidence, the social impact of weight excess in the general population and the actions aimed at mitigating its negative effects.

Design: narrative review.

Setting: data obtained from the sources included in the study were gathered and analyzed in five macroareas: Health Inequality, Society, Work, Impact on Social Medicine (focused on the Italian model), and Social Costs.

Results: each category showed a bilateral relationship with obesity having a significant impact for the community.

Conclusions: for each field, various actions should be taken at institutional level. Many recommendations and actions have already been taken worldwide, but they alone seem to be not enough. This work points out that, in order to combat obesity and bring about a slowdown of this pandemic, the entire scientific community and institutions must work together to identify and design programmes that are truly effective.

Keywords: Health inequalities; Obesity; Social costs; Social impact; Social medicine; Work.