Is obesity a mental health problem or a...

[Richard O]

...physical illness? What drives people to eat more than they need?

[noseygirl]

No personal control. So I guess a mental condition which causes a physical one.

[mbestevez]

Both. If they eat too much, it can be due to an anxietyBut you are forgetting the physical metabolic part, people may have an impairment to metabolize the energy they eat, that can happen in hypothyroidism or Cushing.

[Somes J]

It has a variety of different causes.Pretty much everyone in the First World consumes way more calories than they actually need to survive. We aren't evolved for an environment of continual food surplus: our bodies still think we don't know where our next meal is coming from. Some people have higher metabolism than others, and they tend to get fat more easily.People who overeat often do it because they're self-medicating some personal/mental problem with food, or probably sometimes because they just don't have good self control.

[pennylope09]

It's more biological. Humans have been able to cultivate more food faster than our bodies have evolved. Stone age humans lived to eat, but we no longer have this problem so we eat to live, however, our bodies still want to eat when we can. Between your two choices, I'd say it were more mental. Most people are emotional eaters. Food brings a sense of comfort and fullness, giving one a sense of wellbeing. Another option is ecological. The largest population of obesity is found in impoverished communities. Since fast food is often cheaper than buy and making food yourself this is often the foods they rely on. If you think that one McDonald's meal can have around 1000cals than it makes sense that obesity is common. The average American eats 3200cals/day.