top of page
Optimal Performance MD

Medicalizing Obesity; An Upate on the Medical Approach to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Obesity

By

Mitchell R. Weisberg, M.D., M.P. 

Forward

Over the next several posts, I am going to update a document I first wrote in October 2006. My primary mission is to expose my readers, whether healthcare providers or laypersons, to the current state of the medical solutions for Obesity. Whenever I discuss the current medical approach to any aspect of the human condition, I replace the common phrase “state of the art”, with “state of our ignorance”. I want my readers to realize as I do, that nearly as soon as I understand and apply the current state of the medical science it becomes outdated if not completely obsolete, which is exactly as I want it to be. With everything I have ever learned about human health and medicine, there is one thing about which I will always be certain; we can always be doing better than what we are now. With that as my only disclaimer, I hope you find this update informative and useful.

Obesity the disease

If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution. Albert Einstein

  1. Disease – Definition

  2. A disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.

  3. Obesity- Definition

  4. Obesity, as defined by the BMI (Body Mass Index) is useful for estimating the incidence of the Disease Obesity within a Population and is a risk factor for acquiring other diseases, but the BMI by itself  is not a disease.

  5. Obesity the disease is defined in a given individual by the comorbid health conditions that are, partly or wholly, the result of excess body weight (described below). While the likelihood that a given individual will acquire one or several comorbid health conditions correlates with his or her BMI, comorbidities can occur independently from the BMI. So, a given individual may have a relatively normal or modestly elevated BMI yet have many comorbid health conditions while another individual can have an extremely elevated BMI and no comorbidities.  Thus, there are multiple individual factors other than BMI that play causal roles in the disease state called Obesity. The comorbid conditions of Obesity can be

  6. Physical Comorbidities

  7. Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

  8. Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (Pseudotumor Cerebri)

  9. Osteoarthritis

  10. Phlebitis of the Lower Extremities

  11. Venous Stasis of the Lower Extremities

  12. Stasis Dermatitis of the Lower Extremities

  13. Pulmonary Disease

  14. Restrictive Lung Disease

  15. Obstructive Sleep Apnea

  16. Hypoventilation Syndrome

  17. Metabolic Comorbidities

  18. Cancer

  19. Breast

  20. Uterine

  21. Cervical

  22. Colon

  23. Esophagus

  24. Pancreatic

  25. Kidney

  26. Prostate

  27. Cataracts

  28. Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA, Stroke)

  29. Coronary Artery Disease

  30. Diabetes Mellitus; Type 2

  31. Dyslipidemia

  32. Fatty Liver Disease

  33. Steatosis

  34. Steatohepatitis

  35. Cirrhosis

  36. Gallbladder Disease (Cholecystitis)

  37. Gout

  38. Gynecological Abnormalities

  39. Abnormal Menses

  40. Infertility

  41. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (POS)

  42. Hypertension

  43. Metabolic Syndrome

  44. Pancreatitis

So, while a medical evaluation of Obesity may begin with calculating a patient’s Body Mass Index, it certainly does not end there. To properly treat Obesity, one must first properly diagnose obesity, and this cannot be accomplished with a scale or a mirror. To know whether they are obese (as defined here), most Americans need a thorough history and physical examination by a competent healthcare professional. Only then can they seek solutions, medical or otherwise.

In the posts that will follow, I will show how the definition of Obesity, as I laid it out here, serves as a guide in the medical evaluation (history, physical examination and ancillary testing) and ultimately the medical treatment of Obesity.

End Post

Mitchell R. Weisberg, MD, MP

Internist-Psychopharmacologist-Corporate Wellness Consultant

Founder-CEO and Personal Physician at,

Optimal Performance MD LLC

21 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Medicalizing Obesity

The Argument for the Rational Use of Prescription Medications for Treating Obesity From a report in 2009, Obesity in the United States...

MEDICALIZING OBESITY

The Argument in support of the Rational Use of Prescription Medications for Treating Obesity In  a 2009 report , Obesity in the United...

Comments


bottom of page