Leading Obesity Care Organisations Develop Consensus Statement on Obesity

Six US organisations dedicated to the prevention and treatment of obesity collaborated to develop a consensus statement on obesity, a complex, chronic disease that impacts nearly 42% of adults and 19% of children and adolescents.

This unified effort aims to address the various roadblocks that the organisations face when addressing efforts to improve access to obesity treatment and reduce weight stigma and bias surrounding the disease.

“Our discussions led us to develop the consensus statement to give us a shared starting point for how we talk about obesity,” said Anthony G. Comuzzie, CEO of The Obesity Society, one of the organisations involved in developing the statement.

The statement reads as follows:

Obesity is a highly prevalent chronic disease characterized by excessive fat accumulation or distribution that presents a risk to health and requires life-long care. Virtually every system in the body is affected by obesity. Major chronic diseases associated with obesity include diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

The body mass index (weight in kilograms/height in meters 2) (BMI) is used to screen for obesity but it does not displace clinical judgment. BMI is not a measure of body fat. Social determinants, race, ethnicity and age may modify the risk associated with a given BMI.

Bias and stigmatization directed at people with obesity contributes to poor health and impairs treatment.

Every person with obesity should have access to evidence-based treatment.

Organisations joining The Obesity Society in this effort include:

• the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (the Academy),
• American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS),
• Obesity Action Coalition (OAC),
• Obesity Medicine Association (OMA),
• and the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance.

Read more about this statement and why it was developed here.