A group of 58 researchers is seeking new and better ways to measure obesity.
The global team’s recommendations were published January 14 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
According to many sources, body mass index (BMI) has been the international standard for measuring obesity since the 1980s, but some experts question its validity.
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A person’s BMI is calculated by dividing their weight by their height in feet squared.
According to many sources, body mass index (BMI) has been the international standard for measuring obesity since the 1980s, but some experts question its validity. (St. Petersburg)
“Obesity is a complex issue and has different importance at an individual level,” lead author Francesco Rubino, head of obesity and metabolic surgery at King’s College London, told Fox News. told Digital.
He said obesity is a “spectrum” rather than “a single distinct clinical entity.”
Rubino continued, “It is impossible to say whether obesity is a disease or not, because disease states cannot be matched by body size or simply excess body fat.”
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The Clinical Obesity Commission is proposing a “reframing” of obesity that distinguishes between people who currently have the disease and those who are at risk of developing the disease in the future, Rubino said.
Rather than relying solely on BMI, researchers recommend also measuring obesity, which is the amount of excess body fat.


A person’s BMI is calculated by dividing their weight by their height in feet squared. (St. Petersburg)
Researchers say obesity can be determined by measuring a person’s waist circumference or by performing a body scan to measure fat mass.
Expert groups recommend using two levels of obesity: preclinical and clinical.
In preclinical obesity, there is excess body fat that does not affect tissue or organ function.
“People who are clinically obese suffer from a chronic disease and should be treated like anyone suffering from any other chronic disease.”
However, the researchers noted that those individuals may be at higher risk of developing clinical obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some types of cancer.
Clinical obesity is defined as “a chronic systemic disease characterized by altered function of tissues, organs, the whole individual, or a combination thereof due to excessive fat accumulation.”
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In clinical obesity, a person can experience “severe end-organ damage, leading to life-altering and potentially life-threatening complications,” the researchers wrote.
The potential effects of clinical obesity can include heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure.
“Because these obesity categories are completely new, we cannot measure their relative prevalence in the population,” Rubino said. “Physicians are not yet able to make such a diagnosis because many of the organ dysfunctions that characterize clinical obesity have not been routinely evaluated.”


If excess body fat is identified, clinicians should evaluate the individual to determine whether obesity may be causing organ dysfunction, the researchers said. (St. Petersburg)
The researchers call for further research into these diagnoses.
“Clinicians are encouraged to thoroughly evaluate obese patients in the clinic to understand whether elevated BMI levels are due to excess body fat or other reasons such as increased muscle mass. , we recommend using other measures of body size, such as waist circumference,” Rubino said. he told FOX News Digital.
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If excess body fat, or obesity, is identified, clinicians should evaluate the individual to determine whether obesity may be causing organ dysfunction, the researchers said. .
“People who are clinically obese suffer from a chronic disease and should be treated like people who suffer from other chronic diseases,” Rubino said.
People with preclinical obesity should receive “evidence-based health counseling, long-term health monitoring, and, if necessary, appropriate interventions to reduce the risk of developing clinical obesity,” researchers said. are writing.
About 40% of U.S. adults were obese between August 2021 and August 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About 9.4% of those adults were severely obese.
“Outdated measures”
Dr. Brett Osborne, a Florida-based neurosurgeon, longevity expert, and fitness competitor, agrees that BMI is an “outdated metric” for diagnosing obesity.
“It is clear that obesity should no longer be defined solely by appearance or weight.”
“As medicine evolves, it is clear that obesity should no longer be defined solely by appearance, weight, or even weight-for-height as in BMI calculations,” the doctor, who was not involved in the new study, told Fox News. told Digital. .
“Instead, this condition needs to be understood through the lens of metabolic dysfunction.”
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Dr Osborne said obesity is not just a disease of being overweight, but a “systemic metabolic disorder that requires sensitive and individualized care”.
Doctors say they can better assess the condition by looking at factors such as inflammation, insulin resistance and glucose tolerance.
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In some cases, using BMI can cause “muscular athletes” to be considered obese, and even people with a “normal” BMI can have “harmful” levels of visceral (abdominal) fat, he said. pointed out.
Osborn said his clinic does not use BMI, instead relying on visceral fat scores, skeletal muscle mass and body fat percentage.


In some cases, using BMI could result in “muscular athletes” being labeled obese, one doctor noted. (St. Petersburg)
Skeletal muscle mass (the muscles connected to bones) is critical to strength and metabolic efficiency, Osborn said.
For optimal health, it is recommended that men aim for skeletal muscle mass of 50% of their total body weight and women aim for 45%, although other factors such as age and fitness level also come into play. Masu.
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“Remember, your resilience, your ability to fight off disease, is in your muscles,” Osborne added.
“By integrating body composition indicators, metabolic markers, and individualized assessments, we can more accurately diagnose obesity and tailor interventions to each individual.”