A recent article stated that the word "obesity" first appeared in a medical context in a book published in 1620. This appears to be wrong by about 700 years. Read the entire article | Email this article

The word "obesity" comes from the Latin word "obesus" which means "one who has become plump through eating" according to Richard Barrnett from the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine. However, in Latin, "obesus" also means "coarse" or "vulgar". Read the entire article | Email this article