Dieting is not an effective measure for obesity but DIET can be. What we eat and drink affects not only fat and carbohydrate metabolism, but our gut microbiome too. And exercise DOES matter. It’s not just calorie restriction and burning, it’s recalibrating ones metabolism. Best done early in life, but it can be done later.

Of course there are often other factors that contribute to obesity, and one not mentioned here is economic stress. Not just poverty, but having to spend so much time working and caring for family that there is neither the time nor desire to eat well and exercise. And stress hormones themselves promote fat accumulation.