The majority of obese people have other health problems. But, not all. For many, another health problem caused the obesity; they would happily give up both, but do not get the choice. For some, eating little enough to actually lose weight would make them sick.

It is overwhelmingly worse to have metabolic disorder without obesity than to have obesity without metabolic disorder. Many, many non-obese Americans have metabolic disorder. A smaller number are obese without metabolic disorder.

The fact that different, sometimes worse, alternatives exist has no bearing on the factual accuracy of what I said. Obesity is without a doubt unhealthy relative to the equivalent non-obese state. It is a significant risk factor for, and in many cases a direct cause of, an astounding number of other disorders.

While there are plenty of illnesses that obesity can help bring on or worsen, not everybody who is obese suffers from any of them. In the absence of such an illness, an obese person may be as healthy and live as long as, any in their cohort.

As a matter of public health, attention is much better directed to metabolic syndrome and circulatory disease, which are more responsive to interventions. Obesity draws attention because it is easily visible, and because people have attached a moral stigma to it. Blinkered public policy has led to there being overwhelmingly more obese people than the natural rate; fix policy, and the rate would return to its normal level.