Obesity is a true pandemic, affecting 890 million adults around the world and about 160 million children. It is one of the leading causes of death around the world, as it is a risk factor that contributes to so many dangerous conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. For this reason, it is important that the medical world has an effective way to both measure and treat obesity – and help people to prevent it altogether. Recently, a global commission of experts has come together to discuss the need to change our definition of and how we diagnose obesity, so as to improve obesity treatment effectiveness. This is what they discussed.
Reevaluating Obesity Definition Beyond BMI
Before we can improve upon the effectiveness of obesity treatment, we first have to improve upon the definition of the disease. A strong definition helps to accurately identify those whose body fat is putting them at risk for disease versus those whose it is not. While that might seem simple, it is more challenging than it sounds. Recent discussions have brought to light a new perspective on defining obesity. A global commission has proposed a shift in focus from the traditional reliance on Body Mass Index (BMI) to a more comprehensive evaluation that includes factors like waist circumference and excess body fat. This is because many health professionals are finding that relying solely on BMI is a gross oversimplification of the disease, and is leading to some being put in this category who don’t belong and others who should be there are not. This revised definition aims to provide a more accurate assessment of obesity and its associated health risks.
Read More: Weight Loss Pyramid: What’s Most Important For Losing Weight
Limitations of BMI as a Treatment Measure
BMI has long been used globally as a way to assess whether or not someone is obese. It is a simple calculation of dividing someone’s weight in kilograms by their height in meters squared. Experts are saying, however, that this calculation, while accessible and simple, is highly limited. Criticisms of BMI include its inability to differentiate between total weight and weight attributed to fatty tissue. Your body weight, after all, is not just your body fat. It is your muscle mass, bone density, internal organs, hydration levels, and more. The BMI calculation doesn’t take any of this into account, leading to potential misclassification of individuals, for example, athletes, who often have much higher muscle mass than the average person. Additionally, BMI may not provide consistent and accurate results across different demographic groups, highlighting the need for a more individualized approach to obesity treatment.
The thing is, the amount of fat you have on your body, or whether you ‘look’ overweight or not, is not actually a great indicator of your health. Using just BMI can put some people in the overweight or obese category who are fit, healthy people. As mentioned, this can especially be the case for athletes and highly active people, as their muscle mass throws off the BMI calculation. At the same time, you can have people who appear ‘thinner’ or not overweight but who actually don’t have much muscle mass, are fairly out of shape, and have more fat on their bodies than it appears. The key is where the fat is stored and how that person’s overall health is. Just as much as being lean doesn’t equate to health, appearing as though you are ‘overweight’, or having a calculation like BMI say you are, doesn’t mean you are unhealthy.
Read More: Man Receives Overwhelming Praise for Incredible 336lb Weight Loss Transformation
Proposed Changes in Clinical Care
With that, this global commission is proposing some changes to how we use the BMI tool and how we define obesity. Their proposed changes in defining obesity offer a more nuanced approach to categorizing individuals based on their obesity-related health conditions, rather than solely on their BMI. By distinguishing between clinically obese individuals with existing health issues and pre-clinically obese individuals at risk of developing complications, healthcare providers can tailor treatment strategies to suit each group’s specific needs. This shift in classification could pave the way for more personalized and targeted interventions. The commission says that this won’t actually lead to a big change in the number of people diagnosed with obesity, but rather who is being diagnosed. They estimate that about 20% of people currently considered obese no longer will be, and that 20% will be replaced with people who didn’t fit the definition before but whose body fat is a major risk factor to their health.
Advantages and Disadvantages of New Classification
Naturally, there are both benefits and drawbacks to this new approach to the classification of obesity. While it allows for a more precise evaluation of obesity and the need for medical intervention, some concerns revolve around the delay in treatment for pre-clinical obese individuals and the potential impact on insurance coverage for preventive healthcare measures. Depending on the country you are in, being classified as pre-clinical might lead to insurance companies not wanting to cover the specific intervention that a doctor would like to try with a patient. This would be because the insurance company may not see it is necessary, simply because that person is not yet in the clinical category. This good pose a problem for doctors get pre-clinical patients the help they need so that they don’t eventually find themselves in the clinical category. Balancing the advantages of tailored treatment with the need for early intervention remains a key consideration in implementing these changes.
Implications for Obesity Treatment Effectiveness
That being said, there are many positive potential outcomes for making these changes. The proposed changes in defining and categorizing obesity have the potential to reshape how healthcare providers approach obesity treatment. By moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach based solely on BMI, clinicians can offer more individualized and targeted interventions to address obesity and its associated health risks. This could greatly improve patients’ overall well-being and prevent many people from suffering from obesity-related diseases. However, the adoption of these changes may face resistance due to the entrenched use of BMI in clinical practice and research. After all, it has been used for quite a long time now and is a very simple tool to use. Some clinicians may not be open to changing or making their process more complicated. Whether we like it or not, many studies have found links between BMI and disease risk, regardless of BMI’s shortcomings as a diagnostic tool.
Moving Forward: Patient-Centric Approaches
As discussions around redefining obesity continue, patients are encouraged to engage with their healthcare providers to explore more comprehensive assessments beyond BMI. By advocating for measurements that consider factors like waist circumference and adiposity, individuals can gain a better understanding of their health risks and tailor treatment plans accordingly. As mentioned, what’s just as important (if not more) as how much fat you carry on your body is where you carry that fat. More fat around the abdomen is generally a sign of excess visceral fat, aka fat around the vital internal organs. This is much more dangerous to your health than excess fat around the arms, hips, or thighs. Recognizing obesity as a chronic medical condition that requires personalized care and interventions can help foster a more proactive and holistic approach to obesity management.
Obesity Treatment Effectiveness: The Bottom Line
Just as you can’t necessarily judge someone’s health based on appearance alone, you also can’t rely so heavily on the BMI calculation. Evaluating the effectiveness of obesity treatment requires a multifaceted assessment that goes beyond traditional metrics like BMI. By embracing new definitions and classifications of obesity and prioritizing patient-centric approaches, healthcare providers can navigate the complexities of obesity treatment more effectively and improve outcomes for individuals facing this challenging health issue. They will be able to more accurately diagnose those individuals who actually need help, versus those whose health is just fine. Hopefully, this can lead to less bias against larger-bodied people, as well as certain races and ethnicities, in medicine.
Disclaimer: This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment and is for information only. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions about your medical condition and/or current medication. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking advice or treatment because of something you have read here.
Read More: An Apple a Day? How About an Orange: Study Finds This Citrus Fruit Reduces Depression by 20%