Daniel Arguelles

Op-ed article

How it is that serial killers get away with their atrocities such an amount of times,
enough to be referred as serial? Well, they are particularly sneaky, smart, they lurk the
society without being unnoticed, they manage to creep when no one is watching. There
has been large amount of disturbed people that has past to history for their despicable
acts, but this one is responsible of far more deaths than Jack the Ripper or even H.H.
Holmes. This one manages to 2.8 million people on a yearly basis, victimize more than
half of billion adults and doesnt stop there, over forty-two million children, too. Strong
governmental efforts have been made to stop this horrific and undeserved casualties,
but still this silent killer lives among us. Still doesnt ring a bell? Obesity has become
such an overwhelming issue over the last forty years that is the primary causing agent
in diabetes and ischematic heart disease, it can even lead to several types of cancer. It
is a while since obesity became a problem of such magnitude, but why is it that there is
still an ongoing epidemic? Well, people blame the fast food restaurants, the fast food
restaurants blame the authorities, and the authorities blame the physicians, and it is an
ongoing, never ending cycle and just pointing fingers will not solve this problem. First
things first, is obesity a disease? A very simple, a very easy question, but a very tricky
one. If its being referred as an epidemic it must be disease right? But is there a
biological condition making people obese? Is there a gene detrimental in this condition,
rather than hyperthyroid problems, there is no gene that would make you choose
between a healthy meal and the corner fast food restaurant. It is within this rather

simple question that lays a very important factor contributing to the growing issue of
obesity. It was recently declared, 2013, by the American Medical Association, that
obesity was officially considered as a disease, and it should be treated as one. One
problem checked off the list of tackling the obesity issue, not so fast, this declaration
didnt even come close to resolving the issue, only generated more controversy and no
help. How can the AMA comfortably declared obesity as a disease if the definition of
disease itself is ambiguous? Declaring obesity as a disease takes more than just
checking if the requirements for a disease are fulfilled, many factors not just biological
or physical must be taken into consideration. Health is defined by the World Health
Organization (WHO) as A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and
not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. First pointer, not even WHO is able to
proportionate a clear and concise definition of disease, instead facilitates a definition of
health, so the definition of disease would be the complete opposite right? Disease is a
state of incomplete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence
of health. That is merely an assumption, so, if a person is slightly overweight, is he/she
slightly sick? Second pointer not choosing healthy food does not make you sick, it just
makes you a poor decision maker, obesity is a condition that may result in a disease.
Declaring more people obese, means more people is in need of special treatments,
meaning more money is spent. AMA didnt disclose their reasoning behind its
declaration, well because it doesnt need to and it doesnt want to. There may be
extensive reasons behind them doing so, but of one thing we can be sure, the silent
killer doesnt plan on being caught anytime soon, referring to obesity of course.