Medical Experts Call Obesity a Disease

Posted: Aug 08 in Weight Loss Blog, What is Obesity by

How do you think about obesity? Is it a genetic problem? Something you were raised with? A problem with self-control? You may be amazed to realize just how many people who struggle with obesity don’t consider obesity to be a medical problem. Unfortunately, the science isn’t on the same side of this argument.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been overweight, or whether your parents were overweight, or even to an extent how overweight you are. Obesity is a medical problem; one that can increase your risk for serious health concerns that can plague you throughout the rest of your life.

Obesity is a Disease

A group of medical experts joined in Portugal in May to discuss the way that we as a global culture talk about obesity. Experts from just about every developed nation were present, and many were concerned with the way their respective nations discussed obesity. In Europe, Portugal is the only country that medically classifies obesity as a disease. In the United States, the acceptance of obesity as a medical disease has risen, but there are still many who call obesity a social problem. While many agree that obesity creates risk for disease, not all consider obesity itself a disease.

This is a problematic worldview of obesity, according to the experts, and their line of reasoning makes a lot of sense. Imagine if you weren’t feeling well, so you went to the doctor and you were diagnosed with a chronic disease. Chances are the very first thing you would do would be to ask what the treatment options were. Well, in this case, it just so happens that there are a lot of treatment options, and that there are plenty of success stories out there too. There is a surgical treatment that is considered the most effective treatment on the market. What’s more, if you move forward with the treatment and make a few essential changes to your lifestyle, you can improve other aspects of your health, as well. Most people would rejoice at the optimism of this conversation with their doctor, but for some reason when it comes to obesity, this conversation doesn’t even enter the medical office conversation.

Obesity is a disease. It is a disease that has treatment options. Weight loss surgery is the most effective treatment method on the market for treating obesity, and with long-term lifestyle changes to your diet and exercise habits you can do more than just lose weight, you can improve your long-term heart health, actually reverse the onset of type-2 diabetes, and improve your risk of experiencing mental health problems like anxiety and depression.

Changing the rhetoric around obesity can help people think better about how to fix the obesity problem in their own lives. Medical experts agree, obesity is a disease. It is time to address this disease for what it is and to take advantage of the medical support that is available.

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