Why are anti-obesity drugs stigmatized?

Obesity is a common and morbid disease, but its treatment remains far from ideal. Many doctors, regulatory agencies, media outlets and patients consider lifestyle modification as the only possible intervention. Pharmacological agents, although with limitations, are useful weapons but are highly stigmatized. Some reasons for this stigma are discussed in this editorial and include: the failure of short-term medication use to achieve long-term results (due to the chronic and recurrent condition of obesity); common perception of obesity as a lifestyle choice; difficulty to treat obesity in the primary care setting; less than desired weight-loss results with medications; misuse of medications for cosmetic reasons; and unfavorable history of other anti-obesity drugs that were withdrawn in previous decades.