The discovery of a form of chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation (“metaflammation”) linked with obesity, but also associated with several lifestyle-related behaviours not necessarily causing obesity, suggests a re-consideration of obesity as a direct cause of chronic disease and a search for the main drivers—or cause of causes. Factors contributing to this are considered here within an environmental context, leading to the conclusion that humans have an immune reaction to aspects of the modern techno-industrial environment, to which they have not fully adapted. It is suggested that economic growth—beyond a point—leads to increases in chronic diseases and climate change and that obesity is a signal of these problems. This is supported by data from Sweden over 200 years, as well as “natural” experiments in disrupted economies like Cuba and Nauru, which have shown a positive health effect with economic downturns. The effect is reflected both in human health and environmental problems such as climate change, thus pointing to the need for greater cross-disciplinary communication and a concept shift in thinking on prevention if economic growth is to continue to benefit human health and well-being. 1. Introduction Obesity is currently pandemic, as are many of the chronic diseases often associated with this (e.g., type 2 diabetes) [1]. However, attributing the rise in chronic diseases to obesity does little to explain the true aetiology of the problem—the “cause of the causes” [2], which lies in more distal determining factors. This is indicated by recent findings that suggest a more complicated aetiological role for obesity than just a simple weight-disease association. The discovery of a form of low-grade systemic inflammation associated with obesity [3], as well as with other lifestyle and environmental factors (e.g., aspects of nutrition, inactivity, inadequate sleep, stress, depression, excessive alcohol intake, smoking, etc. [4, 5]) only some of which are linked to obesity, suggests that obesity may be just a marker of a type of environment and accompanying human lifestyle, which is mediated by aspects of the modern industrial environment to which humans have had little time to adapt. Furthermore, it has been shown, using the metaphor of inflammation, that this environment, is a driver not just of biological, but of ecological “disease,” manifest in excessive greenhouse gas emissions and potential climate change, as well as obesity and chronic disease [6]. In the current paper, which is proposed as a forum for a broader discussion in prevention, this
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