Study Explains How Body Weight Cannot Determine ‘Obesity’

A new Canadian research has issued new guidelines for doctors on how they should approach patients with obesity. The guidelines have explained how bodyweight cannot determine obesity and it should be seen by the individual’s health.

The physicians in the non – profit obesity Canada and the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons, believe that they should go further than simply recommending exercise and diet prescriptions to lose weight. They should focus on why they got to be overweight in the first place and to approach the problem in a different way.

In their view, weight discrimination impedes treatment and medicine has made little room for body positivity. One person’s obesity should be defined by the person’s health and bodyweight cannot determine obesity.    

The guidelines released this week, also rebuked how obesity is handled within health systems around the world, saying, “The dominant cultural narrative regarding obesity fuels assumptions about personal irresponsibility and lack of willpower and casts blame and shame upon people living with obesity.”   

In the research published earlier in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, obesity is classified as a chronic illness that requires tailored treatment and long term care. The doctors should also stop relying on BMI alone when it comes to diagnosing their patients with obesity.

Dr. Arya Sharma, professor of Medicine at the University said, “This is a huge departure from this notion that you can step on a scale and diagnose obesity. Sharma included, “This has nothing to do with size or shape or anything else. It’s simply the question, is your body fat impairing your health?”