“But not everybody thinks calling obesity a disease will help make people healthier. Classifying obesity as a disease “sets people who are heavier up to believe there’s something wrong with them and they’re going to get sick unless they do something about it,” according to , a professor of nutrition at City College of San Francisco and the author of the book Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. That then is “used as justification for surgery to ward off the potential of future disease,” she says, “but that future disease may never exist.” Indeed, research has shown that some people can be overweight or even obese and still fit, whereas their more slender counterparts may be at greater risk for heart disease.” Read more