International And Swiss Experts Call For New Obesity Guidelines

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) A group of international doctors, including those from the University Hospitals of Geneva, says the body mass index (BMI) is not a reliable measure of health and calls for a revision of the guidelines for diagnosing obesity.

• Français fr L'obésité doit être diagnostiquée différemment, selon des experts Original Read more: L'obésité doit être diagnostiquée différemment, selon des expert

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

In addition to BMI, body fat metrics – such as waist circumference or direct fat measurement – should be used, the group recommended on Wednesday in the British journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared. Currently, a BMI over 30 is considered a sign of obesity for people of European origin.

+Rising Swiss obesity levels: can new fat loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy help?

Specialists have long criticised the fact that BMI isn't a direct measure of fat, doesn't reflect its distribution in the body and provides no information on individual health or disease.

“Relying solely on BMI to diagnose obesity is problematic, as some people tend to store excess fat around the waist or in and around their organs such as the liver, heart, or muscles,” explained Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado at Aurora, co-author of the paper.

This content was published on Dec 16, 2023 Unhealthy food is being advertised online to children as young as four. This is one conclusion of a Swiss pilot of a WHO monitoring tool.

According to him, this poses a higher health risk than excess fat directly under the skin in the arms, legs or other parts of the body. Moreover, people with excess body fat don't always have a BMI that indicates obesity, so their health problems may go unnoticed.

The expert panel suggests using various diagnostic methods, such as measuring waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, or waist-to-height ratio, alongside BMI, or even directly measuring body fat. Only those with a BMI over 40 would be considered to have excess body fat without needing further confirmation.

Alongside the new diagnostic guidelines, the experts, led by Francesco Rubino of King's College London, propose two new categories: 'clinical obesity' for chronic disease linked to lasting organ dysfunction, and 'preclinical obesity' for the earlier phase that presents health risks but isn't yet a chronic disease.

This content was published on Oct 20, 2024 Swiss pharma giant Roche is the latest company to refocus its R&D investment on diseases like obesity that weigh heavily on healthcare budgets.

Different therapeutic strategies are needed for the two phases, according to the authors. The proposal by the Commission on Clinical Obesity, which brings together doctors from various specialties, is backed by 76 learned societies and patient associations worldwide, as stated in the article.

It's estimated that over a billion people worldwide suffer from obesity. In Switzerland, the proportion has doubled over the past 30 years: in men, it has risen from 6% in 1992 to 13% in 2022, and in women from 5% to 11%, according to figures from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. This trend is observed across all age groups.

Translated from French by DeepL/sp

MENAFN17012025000210011054ID1109100054