Popular misconceptions about Obesity:

1) Food Causes Obesity

2) Obesity Is a Choice

3) Calories In, Calories Out

4) It's Just a Lack of Willpower

5) Who Cares About Why? Just Eat Less.

Successful prevention or treatment of obesity is fraught with many difficulties, including challenges in having open patient-clinician conversations and overcoming stigma. These difficulties are further heightened because obesity is often considered to have a simple cause, when in fact it is a complex disease with a multifactorial etiology.

Effective treatment of obesity requires a careful understanding of the facts and myths surrounding this disease and its various causes. Bariatric surgery can be a powerful tool for weight loss in very severe cases.