By Katherine Tinsley
9:30am PST, Jan 21, 2025
Obesity has become a national concern in the U.S., as millions of Americans struggle with managing their weight.
Since the 1830s, the body mass index (BMI) has been used to classify people's weight class as healthy or unhealthy. However, new research indicates that the popular chart isn't the best indicator of one's well-being.
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Since the 1830s, the body mass index (BMI) has been used to classify people's weight class as healthy or unhealthy. However, new research indicates that the popular chart isn't the best indicator of one's well-being.
MORE: Follow Wonderwall on MSN for more fun celebrity & entertainment photo galleries and content
In recent years, drugs like Mounjaro and Ozempic have become popular treatments for weight loss, but the chronic disease continues to impact people.
"Obesity is a complex problem and has different significance at the individual level," Francesco Rubino, who is the lead author of The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology study published on January 14, told Fox News Digital.
Rubino told the outlet that obesity is a "spectrum" rather than a "single, distinct clinical entity."
"It is impossible to say if obesity is a disease or not, as disease status cannot coincide with body size or mere excess body fat," Rubino added.
"It is impossible to say if obesity is a disease or not, as disease status cannot coincide with body size or mere excess body fat," Rubino added.
The research presents two new classifications for the condition: clinical obesity and pre-clinical obesity.
"As these categories of obesity are entirely new, we can't measure their relative prevalence in the population," Rubino noted. "Doctors have not yet had the possibility to make such a diagnosis, because many of the organ dysfunctions that characterize clinical obesity have not been routinely assessed so far."
Instead of depending on the BMI chart, professionals urge their peers to take a holistic approach when diagnosing patients.
"We recommend that clinicians thoroughly assess people with obesity in the clinic and use other measures of body size — waist circumference or others — to understand if an increased BMI level is due to excess body fat or other reasons, like increased muscle mass," Rubino shared.
"People with clinical obesity suffer from a chronic illness and should be treated in the same way as people who suffer from any other chronic disease," he continued.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Brett Osborn implied that using BMI is an "outdated measure."
"As medicine evolves, it is clear that obesity should no longer be defined solely by physical appearance or weight — or weight relative to height, as in BMI calculations," Osborn, who didn't participate in the new study, told Fox News Digital.
"Instead, the condition must be understood through the lens of metabolic dysfunction," he said.
"As medicine evolves, it is clear that obesity should no longer be defined solely by physical appearance or weight — or weight relative to height, as in BMI calculations," Osborn, who didn't participate in the new study, told Fox News Digital.
"Instead, the condition must be understood through the lens of metabolic dysfunction," he said.