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A panel of global experts explains why BMI is not the most helpful measurement of body weight, and how else doctors can diagnose obesity. Image credit: VICTOR TORRES/Stocksy.
Obesity is a disease characterized by having excessive body fat, increasing a person’s risk for many serious health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, and even some cancers.
For these people, obesity is a risk factor and should be addressed as such to reduce the risk of chronic conditions developing, but they do not yet have medical complications caused by obesity.
Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, [8] [9] [10] in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health.
If enough weight is gained due to increased body fat deposits, one may become overweight or obese, generally defined as having more body fat (adipose tissue) than is considered good for health. [1] The Body Mass Index (BMI) measures body weight in proportion to height and defines optimal, insufficient, and excessive weight based on the ratio. [2]
Normal weight obesity (colloquially, being "skinny fat") is the condition of having normal body weight, but with a high body fat percentage, leading to some of the same health risks as obesity. Definition
The commission recommends the inclusion of body fat measurements and the presence of existing health issues -- and cautions against using BMI alone as an individual measure of health.
[29] [92] [72] In a 2010 review examining whether weight stigma is an appropriate public health tool for treating and preventing overweight and obesity, Puhl and Heuer concluded that stigmatizing individuals with obesity is detrimental in three important ways: (1) it threatens actual physical health, (2) it perpetuates health disparities, and ...