Obesity and Longevity: Why Health Policy Needs Complexity
After Avellino, one message is clear: the debate on obesity and longevity must reconnect with history, science, and complexity.
Together with Professor Michele Carruba, we had the pleasure of presenting our book “Obesity. Instructions to Rebel”in Avellino, in a discussion that went far beyond nutrition and calories.
A particularly inspiring contribution came from Gabriella D’Avanzo, who reminded us of the legacy of the Salerno Medical School, the first great European medical tradition. Long before modern slogans and prescriptive approaches, the School of Salerno already viewed health as a balance between body, lifestyle, environment, and individual responsibility. A lesson that feels remarkably contemporary.
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In our interventions, Professor Carruba and I focused on a key message:
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obesity, longevity, and cardiovascular diseases cannot be reduced to food alone;
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complex interactions between lifestyle, education, movement, environment, genetics, and social context shape them;
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oversimplified policies risk missing the problem — and creating new ones.
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The discussion in Avellino confirmed how much space there still is for a non-ideological, evidence-based approach that empowers people instead of prescribing behaviors.
A meaningful stop in a journey that continues — next in Rome — with the same goal: bringing complexity back into health policy.
