The DOI matches its Crossref record; 89 of the 91 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Obesity: a chronic relapsing progressive disease process. A position statement of the World Obesity Federation
Open accessAbstract
Summary: This paper considers the argument for obesity as a chronic relapsing disease process. Obesity is viewed from an epidemiological model, with an agent affecting the host and producing disease. Food is the primary agent, particularly foods that are high in energy density such as fat, or in sugar‐sweetened beverages. An abundance of food, low physical activity and several other environmental factors interact with the genetic susceptibility of the host to produce positive energy balance. The majority of this excess energy is stored as fat in enlarged, and often more numerous fat cells, but some lipid may infiltrate other organs such as the liver (ectopic fat). The enlarged fat cells and ectopic fat produce and secrete a variety of metabolic, hormonal and inflammatory products that produce damage in organs such as the arteries, heart, liver, muscle and pancreas. The magnitude of the obesity and its adverse effects in individuals may relate to the virulence or toxicity of the environment and its interaction with the host. Thus, obesity fits the epidemiological model of a disease process except that the toxic or pathological agent is food rather than a microbe. Reversing obesity will prevent most of its detrimental effects.
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“The causes of obesity are multifactorial and incompletely understood.2,5,80”
From Definition and diagnostic criteria of clinical obesity (2025) · cites this paper as [5]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“As reviewed in a statement from the World Obesity Federation95, many medical societies as well as the World Health Organization, the US Food and Drug Association, the US National Institutes of Health, and the Nagoya Declaration have now defined obesity as a disease or disease process.”
From Joint international consensus statement for ending stigma of obesity (2020) · cites this paper as [95]
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“the obesogenic environment that continues to fuel this pandemic on a population level in the USA and other nations [121]”
From The Role of Lifestyle Modification with Second-Generation Anti-obesity Medications: Comparisons, Questions, and Clinical Opportunities (2023) · cites this paper as [121]
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Cites
Overweight, obesity, and mortality from cancer in a prospectively studied cohort of U.S. Adults
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Paradoxical Decrease of an Adipose-Specific Protein, Adiponectin, in Obesity
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Cardiovascular effects of intensive lifestyle intervention in type 2 diabetes
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Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 91 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- JASSO, 2002, Examination committee of criteria for ‘obesity disease’ in Japan; Japan Society for the Study of Obesity. New criteria for ‘obesity disease’ in Japan, Circ J, 66, 987
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- 10.1038/nature14177 · DOI · Paper page
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Jiang, M., Li, Q., Gao, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2026) · Journal of International Medical Research · doi:10.1177/03000605251411662 · Cited by 2
Baloch, H. M., & Nadolsky, K. (2018) · AACE Clinical Case Reports · doi:10.4158/accr-2018-0125 · Cited by 1
Domagała, K., Abramowicz, A. D., Rumin, M., Tatarata, O., Osuch, M., Osuch, M., Kiełboń, A., Jaciubek, M., Luty, C., & Reklewska, Z. O. (2026) · International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science · doi:10.31435/ijitss.1(49).2026.5125
Metadata
- Authors
- Bray, G. A., Kim, K. K., Wilding, J. P. H., & on behalf of the World Obesity Federation
- Affiliations
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center (US)
- National University of Korea Seoul Korea
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Bray, G.A.
- Venue
- Obesity Reviews
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-05-10
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 715-723
- ISSN
- 1467-7881 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-789X
- OpenAlex
- W2612234120
- Semantic Scholar
- ce5fd22f0c153b958215267e8671a3398a9eccaa
- Cited by
- 1,612
- References
- 91
- Citations by year
- 2026: 210 · 2025: 242 · 2024: 243 · 2023: 217 · 2022: 191 · 2021: 202 · 2020: 135 · 2019: 107 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 15
- FWCI
- 78.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Obesity Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity and Health Practices
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Keywords
- obesity, chronic relapsing disease, disease models, energy balance, energy-dense foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, physical inactivity, genetic susceptibility, adipose tissue, ectopic fat, liver fat, metabolic inflammation, host-environment interactions, obesity reversal
- MeSH terms
- Chronic Disease, Diet, Dietary Carbohydrates, Dietary Fats, Environment, Food, Humans, Obesity, Recurrence, Weight Gain, Exercise
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