In the News: American Medical Association recognizes obesity as a disease

This article in the NY TIMES talks about the American Medical Association's (AMA) decision to officially recognize obesity as a disease. This decision has created a stir similar to when Alcoholism was classified as a disease.

If you go by what the AMA is saying, 1/3 of our population has a disease. I know how personal people take their weight and I know this is going to offend many people. But I think that's the point.

I think the reason the AMA did this is to underline, bold and italic how serious the obesity problem is in our country. I think they want doctors, health insurance companies, politicians, the general public to stop looking at obesity as an unfortunate cosmetic issue, but  as the serious public health concern and burden that it is. Medical professionals see people with obesity as a ticking time bomb for a long list of other diseases.

While the AMA has no legal power, this decision could potentially have big ramifications when we talk about how obesity is treated and who pays for it.

The counsel on Science and Public health praised the move saying that it would help remove some of the stigma of obesity as people sometimes oversimplify it as "that person eats too much." Obese people have such a difficult time losing weight because it's just not that simple--another post we'll discuss the hormonal changes that work against an obese person losing weight.

Ironically, the "Fat Activists" are demanding that the AMA change this back because they claim it adds to the stigma of being overweight. I have very little patience for the "Fat is Beautiful" activists and that mentality. I feel like they do much more harm than good. They keep the focus on appearance and this debate should sit squarely on the shoulders of health. I feel strongly that we need to be caring about what our bodies can do and significantly less about what our bodies look like.
 
The other question is about if insurance companies and by default, all of us are going to be paying for other people's obesity. As I listened to the talk show host this morning talk about this, she was concerned about having to start paying for other people's obesity.  I yelled at my radio "WE ALREADY ARE!"

We already are paying for, what we call comorbidities of obesity. We are paying for people's quadruple bypass surgeries, and for their type 2 diabetes, and for their dialysis when their kidneys fail, for their cancer treatments (obesity significantly increases the risk for cancer) and for all the medical conditions that come hand in hand with obesity.

I promise you, the cost of preventative care, of helping someone lose weight, is way less than the cost of treating renal failure, CVD, type 2 diabetes, and Cancer.

As the rates of obesity is rising in the country, it seems we are getting used to it and it's becoming the new normal. This move by the AMA will hopefully remind people that we should be caring about this and should be taking action. At least it has people talking.