AMA: Obesity is a disease

The American Medical Association voted Tuesday to declare obesity a disease, a move that effectively defines 78 million American adults and 12 million children as having a medical condition requiring treatment. The AMA's decision essentially makes diagnosis and treatment of obesity a physician's professional obligation. As such, it should encourage primary care physicians to get over their discomfort about raising weight concerns with obese patients, the Los Angeles Times reported. Studies have found that more than half of obese patients have never been told by a medical professional they need to lose weight—a result not only of some physicians' reluctance to offend but of their unwillingness to open a lengthy consultation for which they might not be reimbursed.

Source: Los Angeles Times