Abstract
In theory it is obvious how to treat or prevent obesity: if it can be arranged that over the lifespan of an individual the total energy intake from food matches total energy expenditure, with suitable allowances for growth in childhood and for the physiological decrease in lean body mass in old age, then that individual cannot become obese. In practice this balance is often very difficult to achieve, and the medical literature is full of jeremiads about the impossibility of successful treatment. Astwood1 said that obesity was due to an inborn error of metabolism, so people who are fat are born fat, and nothing much can be done about it. Kemp2 said there is a point of no return at which the fat organ is so large that it becomes autonomous. Goldrick3 questioned whether refractory obese patients should be treated at all.
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Garrow, J.S. (1979). How to treat and when to treat. In: Munro, J.F. (eds) The Treatment of Obesity. Current Status of Modern Therapy, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1132-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1132-2_1
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