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Barber, T. M. (2018) Is obesity a disease? Expert Reviews Endocrinology and Metabolism, 13 (2). pp. 59-61. doi:10.1080/17446651.2018.1427580
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17446651.2018.1427580
Abstract
Shakespeare said that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Analogously, obesity as a clinical entity based on its current definition of a BMI>30Kg/m2 remains essentially the same thing, whatever we name it. Unfortunately however, BMI which is calculated from just two basic anthropometric measurements, is seriously limited as a sole diagnostic criterion for obesity. It is accepted that on a population-based epidemiological level, BMI appears to perform well as a measure of adiposity [1]. Although BMI usually also correlates well with adiposity on an individual level, ‘excessive adiposity’ as a concept seems quite subjective. Furthermore, BMI also correlates with muscularity, and therefore stumbles as a definition of obesity in some people with excessive muscularity. Finally, ‘excessive adiposity’ may occur at a BMI <30Kg/m2 in some people with sarcopenia for example. BMI as an indicator of ‘excessive adiposity’ is therefore inherently flawed, particularly in those people with abnormal body habitus. A further limitation of BMI is that it provides no indication of body fat distribution. It is well-established that fat distribution (such as visceral versus subcutaneous gluteal fat) influences risk of metabolic dysfunction and co-morbidity development [2]. Although waist circumference is a useful measure of visceral fat, this measurement does not feature as a diagnostic criterion for obesity based on its current definition.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | R Medicine > RC Internal medicine | ||||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Translational & Experimental Medicine > Metabolic and Vascular Health (- until July 2016) Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Translational & Experimental Medicine Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Obesity, Body mass index, Discrimination against overweight persons | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Expert Reviews Endocrinology and Metabolism | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Taylor and Francis | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 1744-6651 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | 18 January 2018 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 13 | ||||||||
| Number: | 2 | ||||||||
| Number of Pages: | 3 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 59-61 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1080/17446651.2018.1427580 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access |
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