In 2013 the American Medical Association (AMA) decided to recognize obesity as a disease, defined as a BMI over 30 (WHO). Since this decision there has been concern regarding the implications of calling obesity a disease and not a risk factor for disease. According to Hofmann a disease is the, “abnormal functioning of internal processes” meaning, by this definition, that obesity is not a disease (2015). The article goes on to outline the downsides of this decision including things like increasing the social stigma, and discrimination around obesity along with commercial interests potentially be placed before that of the individual (Hofmann, 2015). Another interesting argument for obesity not to be classified as a disease comes from an article in Forbes. This article questions the validity of the BMI cutoff metric (>30) that is used to quantify obese individuals. BMI is often not an accurate measure of health for an individual in fact, a portion of individuals with a BMI over 30 are healthy in terms of physiology and a prescription of weight loss in this population could actually lead to harm (Kabat, 2013).
The other side of the coin is that defining obesity as a disease could actually force society to accept that the prevalence of obesity is due to a multitude of things including genetic, environmental, and metabolic factors, and not the myth that it is simply an individual deciding to eat to much (Kyle et al., 2017). Obesity is not simply defined, it is rather, “a complex chronic disease” and by this label it can challenge the societal notion that obesity is a “reversible condition resulting primarily from dietary and lifestyle choices that reflect ignorance or limited motivation (Kyle et al., 2017). Another major benefit that resulted from the AMA declaring obesity is a disease is that prior to this designation insurance companies could evade providing coverage for obesity on health plans (Kyle et al., 2017).
Currently the AMA defines obesity as a disease. While I don’t know what the right side to this debate is I do know that an ongoing discussion is crucial in order to address the widespread prevalence of sizeism found in our society.
Hofmann, B. (2015). Obesity as a socially defined disease: philosophical considerations and implications for policy and care. Health Care Analysis 24, 86-100. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10728-015-0291-1
Kabat, G. (2013). Why labeling obesity as a disease is a big mistake. Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffreykabat/2013/07/09/why-labeling-obesity-as-a-disease-is-a-big-mistake/?sh=164e03cd103b
Kyle, T., Dhurandhar, E., Allison, D. (2017). Regarding Obesity as a Disease: Evolving Policies and their Implications. Endorinol Metab Clin North Am 45(5), 511-520. doi: 10.1016/j.ecl.2016.04.004
Obesity. World Health Organization (WHO), World Health Organization, 2020, www.who.int/health-topics/obesity
Hi Carli, I think you post covers an important topic that needs to be discussed both socially and medically in our society today. Like you, I am also not sure if it’s correct or not to label obesity as a disease however I do agree that BMI is not a completely accurate measure of health and that obesity carries a very negative societal connotation. If the act of defining obesity as a medical condition was to challenge societal norms, than I think that the AMA should also make it a priority to treat and prevent obesity in the population. This goes beyond just the medical community. Schools, markets, and other leaders should help to define indicators of obesity, create effective interventions, and engages in active discussion about the problem of obesity. The British Medical Journal performed studies that have shown that focusing on childhood nutrition and limiting marketing of junk foods can help prevent obesity. Overall, the health of the population should be made a priority and many different individuals and groups can play a part in fighting against sizeism and obesity.
ReplyDeletePreventing obesity. (2003). BMJ : British Medical Journal, 326(7380), 102. doi:http://dx.doi.org.dml.regis.edu/10.1136/bmj.326.7380.102