Medicine: Helpless Heavyweights

Obesity is one of the most common medical complaints in the U.S. today. Depending on the choice of surveys, anywhere from one-tenth to one-quarter of the population is overweight to some extent, and millions of people unhappy about their girth and concerned about their health spend more than $400 million a year on reducing drugs and treatments. Physicians interested in the subject have even formed the American Society of Bariatrics (from the Greek baros, meaning weight) to study the problem collectively. The field has nowhere to go but up; medical science has so far failed miserably to help the heavyweights...

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