Fading Traction for the Anti-Science Dimension of HAES

How is the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement coping with advances in obesity science? The need for fighting weight bias is as great as ever. But relevance of the anti-science dimension of HAES – suggesting that obesity is not a valid health concern – is fading.

It simply doesn’t hold up well in light of robust data telling us that new and effective obesity treatments extend life and improve health.

A Brief History

Fat activism has a history that reaches back into the late 1960s with the founding of NAAFA, which initially called itself the National Association to Aid Fat Americans. In the mid 1980s, the organization held onto its acronym while changing its identity to the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. Later, in the 2000s, the movement coalesced around the trademarked concept of Health at Every Size – HAES. In the evolution of this movement, we have seen two prominent threads throughout. One is a staunch opposition to weight bias and discrimination. The other is profound skepticism about the concept of obesity as a medical diagnosis. This is the anti-science dimension of HAES – which argues that concern about the health effects of obesity are either wildly exaggerated or plainly false.

Even today, HAES advocates argue that losing weight greatly increases the risk of death for “fat women.”

A quick glance at the trends in Google searches for information about HAES tells us that interest has been fading over the last two years, just as interest in GLP-1s for obesity has risen.

A Reconsideration

Earlier this year, Erin Clarke and colleagues published a systematic review and meta-analysis of HAES interventions. They found that claims of better health outcomes with this approach compared to other approaches were unsupported by available evidence. They did find that HAES might help in coping with feelings of hunger.

This might be a good time for HAES advocates to adapt to current insights about obesity and health. Pretending that obesity is not a real health concern does not work anymore. But core principles in opposition to weight bias and focusing on holistic health beyond weight remain sound.

Adapting to the real world could bring new vibrance to the HAES concept. Otherwise, it may fade into obscurity.

Click here for Clarke’s review and here for reporting about it. For further perspective, click here, here, and here.

Locomotive, painting by Oleksandr Bogomazov / WikiArt

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September 1, 2024