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How we diagnose and define obesity is set to change – here’s why, and what it means for treatment

By Louise Baur, John B. Dixon, Priya Sumithran and Wendy A. Brown

23 Jan 2025

Obesity is linked to many common diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease and knee osteoarthritis.

Source: Pexels

Obesity is currently defined using a person’s body mass index, or BMI. This is calculated as weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of height (in metres). In people of European descent, the BMI for obesity is 30 kg/m² and over.

But the risk to health and wellbeing is not determined by weight – and therefore BMI – alone. We’ve been part of a global collaboration that has spent the past two years discussing how this should change. We have now published how we think obesity should be defined and why.

Read the full article on Daily Maverick here.

Source: Daily Maverick

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