From Obesity to Energy Metabolism: Ontological Perspectives on the Metrics of Human Bodies
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From Obesity to Energy Metabolism: Ontological Perspectives on the Metrics of Human Bodies Davide Serpico1 · Andrea Borghini2 Accepted: 14 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract In this paper, we aim at rethinking the concept of obesity in a way that better captures the connection between underlying medical aspects, on the one hand, and an individual’s developmental history, on the other. Our proposal rests on the idea that obesity is not to be understood as a phenotypic trait or character; rather, obesity represents one of the many possible states of a more complex phenotypic trait that we call ‘energy metabolism.’ We argue that this apparently simple conceptual shift can help solve important theoretical misconceptions regarding the genetics, epigenetics, and development of obesity. In addition, we show that our proposal can be fruitfully paired with the concept of developmental channeling of a trait, which connects to the study of the plasticity and canalization of complex traits. Finally, we discuss the potential impact of our approach on the assessment, treatment, and social narratives of obesity. Keywords Obesity · Genetics of obesity · Epigenetics of obesity · Definition of obesity · Developmental canalization · Obesity and public health
1 Introduction Obesity is a major issue on a global scale in contemporary societies. Since the 1990s (Hill and Peters 1998; James et al. 2001; Popkin and Doak 1998), it is customary for reports and documents to talk about obesity as an epidemic or even a pandemic that—in the words of Mozzaffarian—“will decimate population health, economic productivity and healthsystem capacity worldwide” (2020, p. 38). The potentially devastating impact, one may add, concerns not only societies and institutions, but also a reshaping of the ways in which people form life plans and socialize. In fact, the data leave little doubts about the urgency of the matter. Davide Serpico and Andrea Borghini contributed equally to this research. * Andrea Borghini [email protected] Davide Serpico [email protected] 1
Department of Classics, Philosophy and History, University of Genoa, Via Balbi, 2, 16126 Genoa, Italy
Department of Philosophy, University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono, 7, 20122 Milan, Italy
2
As of 2016, 650 million people in the world were considered obese and over 1.9 billion overweight.1 Comparing figures between 1980 and 2016, it is remarkable that every single country worldwide has seen an increase in the number of obese and overweight people (Abarca-Gómez et al. 2017). A recent study regarding the US population suggests that nearly half of it will be obese by 2050 (Ward et al. 2019). The social significance of obesity is no less impressive than the medical. The category ‘obese’ is pivotal in public discourses concerning body image and plays a major role in shaping personal and group identities (Schwartz and Brownell 2004). Obesity should not be thought of in isolation from other categories that are relevant to pinpoint human conditions that typically pr
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