It makes no sense to presume that there has been a sudden collapse of willpower across all ages and ethnic groups and each sex since the 1960s

A survey of more than three hundred international policymakers found that 90 per cent of them believed the personal motivation - aka willpower - was a very strong cause of obesity. This is absurd.

It makes no sense to presume that there has been a sudden collapse of willpower across all ages and ethnic groups and each sex since the 1960s. What has changed most since the sixties is not our collective willpower but the marketing and availability of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods 

B. Wilson, The way we eat now (2019), 6-7