Most people have some dissatisfaction or concern about body weight, fatness, or obesity, either personally or professionally. This book shows how the popular understanding of obesity is often at odds with scientific understandings, and how misunderstandings about people with obesity can further contribute to the problem. It describes, in an approachable way, interconnected debates about obesity in public policy, medicine and public health, and how media and social media engage people in everyday life in those debates. In chapters considering body fat and fatness, genetics, metabolism, food and eating, inequality, blame and stigma, and physical activity, this book brings separate domains of obesity research into the field of complexity. By doing so, it aids navigation through the minefield of misunderstandings about body weight, fatness, and obesity that exist today, after decades of mostly failed policies and interventions.

‘This excellent, highly accessible book is for anyone who struggles to make sense of the conflicting portrayals of obesity in our media and across society. Stanley Ulijaszek takes the reader on a fascinating journey from genetics to ultra-processed foods, from swimming to stigma. He explores the latest science to unpick assumptions and misconceptions about obesity in ways that are both enlightening and entertaining, throwing fresh light on this highly complex challenge.’

Harry Rutter - Professor of Global Public Health, University of Bath

‘This is a gem! In particular for someone entering obesity research with a wish of acquiring a broader perspective of a complex area. Professor Ulijaszek’s profound knowledge, ranging from social, anthropological to biological aspects of obesity is generously shared. He provides the reader with the key steps on how the concepts of obesity have developed historically and how this impacts on the human being today. The writing is crisp and clear, simply a delight to read.’

Fredrik Karpe - Professor of Metabolic Medicine, University of Oxford

‘The rising rate of obesity despite scientific and medical advances and dissemination thereof is a complicated paradox - one that warrants careful, thoughtful assessment. Stanley Ulijaszek has furnished just such an assessment in this highly engaging and accessible book, which deftly dissects prominent narrative axioms of the public discourse of obesity and clarifies, in each case, the particular disconnects between science and popular understanding. It’s long been clear that obesity is not simply a matter of biology, nor its redress one of the right practice or policy. Accordingly, this careful parsing is a valuable and vital contribution to understanding the myriad contexts and entanglements that shape public understandings of obesity, as well as what productive responses might look like in that complicated terrain.’

Helene A. Shugart - Distinguished Professor of Communication, University of Utah

‘Obesity is a complex problem, but in this handy book, Professor Stanley Ulijaszek masterfully explains and simplifies all of the nuances from causes to effects to solutions. With the unique perspective of an anthropologist focussed on food and behaviour, he is able to carefully explain in real simple language why the answer to many of the recurrent questions is ‘Yes and No’. Things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem but here we have easy-to-understand explanations of all the important aspects in the obesity equation, from genes to brains, the bugs in your gut, the place where you live, the food we eat and how it’s designed and marketed by food companies.’

Michael I. Goran - Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Vice Chair for Research, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, and author of Sugarproof

'Understanding Obesity reflects on all aspects of obesity, from the more individual to the more societal: genetics, epigenetics, metabolism, stigma, the food environment, food companies, health inequalities and insecurity … Written in a clear and engaging style, it provides an account of the complexity of obesity, calling for multifaceted, carefully considered responses, and inviting us - ultimately - to be more compassionate human beings towards one another. This book could only have been written by someone such as Stanley Ulijaszek who has immense interdisciplinary expertise, an inquisitive mind and a genuine worldwide view. A small but mighty book!'

Amandine Garde - Professor of Law, University of Liverpool