ABSTRACT

In The Obesity Epidemic Jan Wright and I devoted a chapter to a comparison between the rhetoric of modern obesity science and that of the mass media. On the whole, we argued that there was actually little to choose between the hyperbolic language of both. While we might generally expect scientists to speak about their areas of expertise in a more sober, qualified and cautious manner than the media, in the world of the obesity epidemic no such distinction applies. We were able to find no claim about the looming obesity crisis, no matter how apocalyptic or far-fetched, that did not have its origins in the research literature or the published commentary of obesity scientists.