Sociology

Sociology

Introduction

This essay aims at discussing the how medicalization of food has been detrimental to public's health. The major focus of the essay remains over the issue of obesity and how medicalization of it has been injurious to health. Medicalization is a process through which a number of human problems are defined under the medical category. Medicalization mainly refers to the treatment of all such problems under the medical study. Medicalization of food is categorizing the food related public issues under medical terms and using medical language and practices for the treatment of it. Amongst such food related problems obesity remains the major issue that is widely prevalent in today's society. Obesity has been termed as a medical problem but remains a subject if conflict about whether it's right to frame the issue of obesity as a medical one. Even though obesity remains the major source of emergence for a number of diseases, still it has also been highlighted at a number of places the treating obesity as a medical problem and medicalizing it remains detrimental to the public health.

Discussion

Concept of Food Medicalization

According to Wray& Deery (2008) the concept of food medicalization emerged by a number of sociologists in order to explain how the application of medical knowledge to certain behaviours remains significant in order to treat certain issues that are biological or medical in nature. A number of sociologists played a crucial role in establishing the role of medicalization in response to address a number of health related issues. However, Wray& Deery (2008) further states that the concept of medicalization remains profoundly critiques by a number of people. The concept of medicalization was answered by certain authors stating how the potential reach of medicalization is in relevance with social control.

However, it has been highlighted by a number of critics that how medicalization remains another major reason to harm people's health. They categorized it under the term of iatrogenesis, according to which the process of medicalization remains detrimental to the health of people. According to Gonçalves et.al (2012) the iatrogenesis occurred at three levels, the first level conform to the clinical level according to which the serious side effects were termed much worse than the original condition leading to medicalization being detrimental to public health. The inappropriate means of medicalization and indulgence of it within the concept of food often serves as a reason for leading to more diseases. Inappropriate medicalization serves as a reason for jeopardizing the lives of people with iatrogenic illness or due to poor treatment decisions. Due to the factors of adverse side effects, deviation from the original condition or emergence of multiple diseases, the medicalization process remains detrimental to public health (Gonçalves et.al, 2012).

Obesity

Obesity is a chronic disorder having a number of causes that may serve as a reason for not only affecting the health of an individual but also contributes towards social exclusion and isolation. Obesity remains the most widely prevalent problem which leads people towards developing a number of serious chronic diseases as ...