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Comment by a5c11 | Hacker News Reader

You don't quite understand the meaning of "symptom" and "illness", do you?

Obesity - symptom. Usually the illness is a bad diet, lack of movement, or very rarely some serious health condition. Instead of targeting obesity, fix your habits or see a doctor to see why your body accumulates excessive amounts of fat.

Dopamine issues, lack of concentration, etc. - symptoms. The illness is ADHD. By taking medicines you are targeting illness, which is correct. Targeting symptoms would be me standing behind you with a metal pipe and hitting you every time you lose focus.

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> Obesity - symptom. Usually the illness is a bad diet, lack of movement, or very rarely some serious health condition

The fact that it's treatable with a drug should have put this nonsense to bed.

I don't gain weight when I eat more food. That occurs regardless of whether I'm exercising heavily or literally not leaving bed and ordering food via delivery. My basal metabolism takes care of my weight management. The flux is mostly in muscle mass.

Similarly, I have friends who will precisely measure their diet and exercise, gain a pound or two, and then have to work for weeks to burn that off. If I had that metabolism, I'd be obese. I don't, so I'm not. They took Ozempic, reduced their weight, reduced their inflammation, and then stopped taking it. They rebounded a bit, but nowhere close to where they were originally, and are now reset to a healthy weight. (More significantly, their diet changed because of the obesity going away. They crave fruits and vegetables more than processed carbs.) The effect is similar in type to what I experienced when I got a shot of penicillin for strep.

> The fact that it's treatable with a drug should have put this nonsense to bed.

You can "cure" brain tumour with painkillers too. That's the same thing - silencing symptoms, while the cause persists.

> precisely measure their diet and exercise, gain a pound or two

If they exercise, that's normal they gain weight. Muscles build up, the body keeps some more water - that's natural. Weight isn't the only measure, especially for those who are exercising. When I had a break from a gym for a few months, I lost 6 kilograms (which I now regained), but that wasn't fat.

> can "cure" brain tumour with painkillers too. That's the same thing - silencing symptoms, while the cause persists

Bad comparison. Taking painkillers doesn’t cause the underlying condition to go away. GLP-1 agonists do. The obesity goes away. The inflammation goes away. Hell, the dietary choices get changed. In some cases, including ones I’ve personally seen multiple times now, even after treatment is stopped.

> If they exercise, that's normal they gain weight. Muscles build up

They’re not gaining a persistent few pounds of muscle in a week that then get worked off with exercise.

The next few generations of humanity are going to be genuinely fascinating. One group with fewer and fewer transmissible diseases, without obesity, aging slower. The other anti-vax, anti-medicine and whatnot.

> They’re not gaining a persistent few pounds of muscle in a week that then get worked off with exercise.

So it's water. Btw, do they also report every meal they ate to you? I doubt. People are lying, so I wouldn't trust in their calories counting.

> The obesity goes away.

Just like pain, obesity is a symptom of something else being broken - diet, serious illness, mental issues, invalid hormone levels, etc. Sure you probably can get rid of obesity with a magic pill, but the underlying problem persists. Obesity doesn't come from the air - basic laws of physics.

> One group with fewer and fewer transmissible diseases, without obesity, aging slower.

That's precisely what healthy lifestyle does to the human body. You don't need to pay for magic pills, just keep balanced diet, exercise, sleep well.

> The other anti-vax, anti-medicine and whatnot.

Being sceptical about what you put into your body is wise. Not every vaccine is needed. Not every medicine is there to help you.

wow people can just not be obese if they fix their habits! what a revelation! Better go tell all the obese people that, they surely have no idea.

Two things get in most people's way: nutritional knowledge and emotional control.

Health and age is a factor for some ofc but can you honestly say that people know the nutritional value of what they're eating and also can emotionally control when they eat?

This perspective doesn't properly take into account the complex metabolism of the human body, and the psychological complexity of the brain.

The apparent phenomenon of "free will" emerges from a chaotic, dynamic system, but you must understand the underlying variables if you want to effectively manipulate the result of their interactions.

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