The American Medical Association determines obesity is a disease

The American Medical Association has officially recognized obesity as a disease, which may not only prompt doctors to pay more attention to obesity, but also prompt more insurance companies to pay for treatment. A committee that has studied this suggests not to define obesity as a disease, but at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago, deputies rejected the proposal and made the decision.

　　American Medical Association Director Dr. Patrice Harris "Acknowledging obesity is a disease will help transform the way the medical community deals with this complex problem, and about one-third of Americans are affected by it." She believes that the new definition will help people fight against type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which are related to obesity.

In a way, "whether obesity is a disease" is just a semantic question, because people are not universal about what to think of as a disease." Consensus. And the American Medical Association’s decision is not legal.

Nonetheless, some doctors and weight loss advocates still say that the statement issued by the largest group of physicians in the country will prompt people to pay more attention to obesity. This will help increase the reimbursement of weight loss medications, surgeries and counseling expenses.

　　"I think you might see physicians taking obesity more seriously and coaching patients in this regard." Morgan Downey Downey said he is the publisher of the online publication Downey Obesity Report and a weight loss supporter. “Companies promoting weight loss products can take this decision to see a doctor, pointing at it and say, ‘Look, the mothership has now admitted obesity is a disease.’”

Two new weight loss pills entered the market last year, Vivus’ Qsymia, and Arena Pharmaceuticals. There are many reasons for the poor sales of Belviq.Qsymia from Pharmaceuticals and Eisai. For example, due to concerns that it may lead to fertility defects, Qsymia's reimbursement ratio is extremely low and distribution is restricted. However, these restrictions have been relaxed now. Belviq was only launched a week ago, so it is too early to judge its sales situation.

　　Why should obesity be called a disease? People have long debated this issue. In 2008, the Obesity Society officially published an article supporting the classification of it as a disease; Downey was one of the authors of that article. The American Medical Association Congress voted to reject the Council on Science and Public, a subsidiary of the Medical Association. Health's conclusion. The latter has studied this problem over the past year and they say obesity should not be considered a disease. The main reason is that we usually use the body mass index (BMI) to measure whether a person is obese. This method is too simple and has defects.

Some people have exceeded the BMI levels that are usually used to define obesity, but they are actually very healthy. People with BMI below the obesity standard may have dangerous body fat levels and metabolic problems related to obesity. The committee wrote, “Given the limitations of using BMI to diagnose obesity in clinical practice, it is not clear whether acknowledging obesity is a disease rather than a ‘condition’ or ‘abnormal’ will lead to improvements in health.”

The committee summarizes the positive and negative arguments about defining obesity as a disease. The summary states that one reason is supported is that it is generally believed that obesity is purely the result of eating too much and exercising too little, which puts obesity on the back, and defining obesity as a disease can wash away the stigma. Doctors say people cannot fully control their weight. Supporters also say obesity meets some medical standards for the disease, such as impairing physical functions.

Opponents say that specific symptoms related to obesity do not exist. Obesity is more a risk factor for other conditions, not a disease itself. Opponents also believe that claiming obesity is a disease, thus "medicalizing" obesity will define one-third of Americans as patients and may lead to people relying more on expensive drugs and surgical treatments rather than changing their lifestyles. Some people may be overtreated because of BMI exceeding the standard, even if they are healthy.

The delegates denied the committee's conclusion and voted to endorse the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. A resolution promoted by the Association of Clinical EndocrinoGIst, the American College of Cardiology and other organizations.

　The resolution believes that obesity is a "multi-metabolic and hormonal condition" that leads to adverse consequences such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The resolution says, "It is not a disease, but a result of lifestyle choices like overeating and lack of exercise, which is equivalent to saying that lung cancer is not a disease because it is a result of personal choices like smoking."