Among the topics primarily discussed is the use of critical terms for foods and their consumption, but also of the impact of diet culture on the social and medical treatment of overweight people.
[9][10] Sabrina Strings, sociologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, argues that diet culture is used to enforce existing social hierarchies in a way that disadvantages marginalized groups.
Due to these concerns and the negative appeal surrounding the term, diet culture has been reframed as a focus on fitness and health.
This perspective centered around prioritizing individual well-being and health rather than emphasizing the improvement of one's physique by losing weight.
Registered dietitian and research scientist Kevin Klatt described the claims by some junk food companies and paid influencers about the link between high body fat and chronic illness as "a fantasy and a total fairy tale", because having excess fat tissue is scientifically proven to cause some diseases.