Dr. Grace O'Malley:

Yes. While my colleagues can also comment on this matter, at undergraduate curricula level there is very little education in this field. Therefore, recently qualified health professionals have a pretty inadequate knowledge of this field because it is relatively new. Without question, the curricula need to be examined. Based on that, graduates will have scientific evidence because we know that the problem is far more complex than just eating too much. We know there is a huge epigenetic component. Epigenetics is like a light switch, by which I mean one has the ability to switch something on or off. Let us say a person is predisposed to gaining weight and leads a lifestyle whereby he or she is very stressed, not sleeping and eating ultra processed foods. That switch gets switched on and then he or she is more likely to become obese. Conversely, if a person is predisposed to obesity but that light switch is kept turned off, he or she is less prone to develop obesity.