You could hear Dr Lustig saying at about 14 minutes of the video that NOBODY can fix the obesity as such, but then he offered a solution: fixing the leptin resistance by fixing the insulin resistance, the obesity will be fixed also. But he did not believe in lifestyle changes, such as exercise, because in his eyes (selectively supported by some research) it does not work.
I know from my own experience how my extra kilograms secretly kept piling up over a few years but I have never been insulin or leptin resistant. My blood tests and fasting sugar were perfectly normal. And then I have managed to come from the BMI 27+ to my current 23.5 and counting. The weight gain period was simply a result of having an abundance of palatable and fattening food, which, however, was not too sugar rich, and I did not have to walk miles every day. After I have had enough of myself being overweight, I started to watch my diet and walk more. One summer I even did some regular jogging in my area. Should I not have halted my slow and creepy weight gain, I could end up like some members of my family - obese and sick. I have managed all this without a help of a doctor or some private consultations.
However, I understand that the individual case is different than the task for the government to tackle the obesity on the population level.
Here is the trend of childhood obesity and overweight in England. Can you see the drop after 2004?
That was the time the UK government started to apply robust intervention campaigns against childhood obesity. These campaigns involved dietary changes, behavioral consultations and also increased physical activity. It is still not perfect and more can be done, but tell me again that nobody can fix the obesity.
In this short article you can see that the American adult obesity has also started to level off in 2012. I will wait for the statistics to see whether this had some effect on metabolic health of the population, too.