Dr. Sanjay Gupta: What weight tells us about our health
CNN
If you’ve been paying attention to health news recently, you may have noticed a subtle but real shift in the way society discusses body weight. It started about 10 years ago with the body positivity movement, the idea that we should love our bodies at any size. But around that time, the American Medical Association classified obesity as a disease. The medical community was divided, with some believing the classification would help reduce stigma while others argued that it pathologized larger bodies.
(CNN) — If you’ve been paying attention to health news recently, you may have noticed a subtle but real shift in the way society discusses body weight. It started about 10 years ago with the body positivity movement, the idea that we should love our bodies at any size. But around that time, the American Medical Association also classified obesity as a disease. The medical community was divided, with some believing the classification would help reduce stigma while others argued that it pathologized larger bodies. These transformational changes picked up speed with the arrival of powerful and wildly popular new medications that have already helped many people shed pounds. We on the “Chasing Life” podcast team think it’s the perfect time to try to sort through some of these medical and cultural threads. That’s why we’re turning the spotlight on body weight in the coming season. For those listeners who, like me, really love the brain, there will be plenty here for you too, as the brain and body are forever linked. We’re not going to reveal the secret to losing weight “with one weird trick” or even tell you that you should necessarily shed pounds. In fact, our very first episode explores the real link between weight and health. I spoke to Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, about what our weight does and does not tell us about our health — and what she said might surprise you. Despite changing attitudes about larger bodies, excess weight does carry a price. From a health care standpoint, it costs the country a lot of money. According to a study published in the journal The Lancet in 2020, 27% of total health care expenditures in 2016 — about $730.4 billion — could be attributed to “modifiable risk factors” for preventable health conditions like cardiovascular disease. And high body mass index topped the list of those risk factors. It was responsible for nearly a third of that sum: $238.5 billion.
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