A member of the Biden Administration's panel set to determine new dietary guidelines for Americans is receiving backlash for her comments on obesity.

Dr Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine physician at Mass General Health in Boston, was appointed to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which will develop new recommended eating habits for Americans over the coming years.

The appointment has received backlash as it comes only weeks after she downplayed the value of diet and exercise in weight loss in an interview with 60 Minutes at the start of the year.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) develop these guidelines every five years. Previous versions have been blamed for jumpstarting America's obesity crisis.

Dr Cody's appointment comes as the US remains one of the fattest countries in the world, according to a new report. 

'The number one cause of obesity is genetics,' Dr Cody said.

'That means if you are born to parents that have obesity, you have a 50 to 85 percent likelihood of having the disease yourself. Even with optimal diet, exercise, sleep management, stress management.' 

Dr Shauna Levy, a bariatric surgery expert at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, told DailyMail.com: 'I think Dr Cody's comment was an oversimplification of the cause of disease. 

'However, I also think that as a society we likely underestimate the role of genetics in causing obesity and overestimate the role diet/exercise plays in treating this disease.'

Dr Cody Stanford will be on a panel of 20 nutrition, obesity and weight loss experts from across the country included on the HHS and USDA panel.