Changing views about Obesity

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of obesity among adults in the United States was approximately 42.4% in 2017-2018. This means that nearly half of all adults in the United States were affected by obesity.

Perhaps, we need to change the way we look at obesity. Obesity is not about someone’s laziness, or it is not just about vanity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have defined Obesity as a Lifelong Relapsing-Remitting Chronic Disease.

Does that definition remind us of something else? Yes, there are other chronic diseases that behave similarly, like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, but those patients don’t face the stigma that patients with Obesity face. It is concerning that patients with Obesity face discrimination not only from society but also from insurance companies, who refuse to cover weight-loss medications while they cover medications for other chronic diseases!

It is well known that Obesity can cause other Chronic diseases like Prediabetes, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, High blood pressure, Arthritis, Sleep apnea, Depression, PCOS and Infertility. But what is not well-known is that Obesity is associated with at-least 13 types of cancers!

It is time we changed the way we think about Obesity.