Obesity stigma is pervasive & resilient. A landmark statement demands we eliminate the gap between the social narrative and scientific evidence.
Declaring weight stigma "...unacceptable in modern societies," a new multinational consensus statement published March 4, 2020, in Nature Medicine, focuses on the pervasive and enduring gap between the stigmatizing, destructive public narrative around obesity and current scientific evidence and understanding of body-weight regulation. Consensus authors, led by Francesco Rubino, MD, professor and chair, bariatric and metabolic surgery, King's College London, UK, write that the initiative's goal to focus on the disparity between science and perception sets it apart from previous related efforts.  We offer the statement's executive summary below, point-by-point, in an easy-to-read slide show. Scroll through for the panel's core recommendations - then use this link to read the full document.