Despite decades of research supporting the dominant influence of genetic and environmental factors in the development of obesity, in the public consciousness, obesity continues to be viewed as a result of individual-level decision-making. This misperception leads to harmful assumptions about the lifestyles and characters of people with obesity. Such ensuing obesity stigma permeates our current sociocultural and political landscape and has severe consequences for people living with obesity, including worsened mental health, increased mortality and morbidity, and poor healthcare provision. Furthermore, a narrative of personal responsibility for obesity development orientates individual-level interventions that are naïve to the reality of underlying genetic and environmental causes of obesity, that in turn receive inadequate attention and support.
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