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Recently, physicians voted overwhelmingly to label obesity as a disease that requires a range of interventions to advance treatment and prevention.

Obesity is a pathophysiologic disease, it was decided by the AMA. There is a treatment for this disease; it involves behavioral modifications, medications, and surgeons. Obesity affects minorities disproportionately, the scientific evidence is overwhelming, as we all have been informed.  Years ago, the issue was hypertension and, again, it affected minorities disproportionately. 

As a chiropractor, I treat the complications of this disease.  Obesity is a disease. It’s very, very, very clear that even though not every hypertensive gets a stroke and not every obese person suffers the complications, that does not change the fact that this is a disease.

In some ways, obesity is more like smoking. Smoking isn’t a disease. Smoking can cause disease such as lung cancer and emphysema in the same way that obesity can lead to diabetes and hypertension.

We know that behavior and dietary choices play a part in obesity. Thirty years ago, we did not have the obesity problem we have now. If you look scientifically at what has changed, our diet has changed. There’s been no change in our genetic structure in the past 30 years.

Obesity is a very serious condition. It’s a scourge on our nation. It’s an epidemic. It’s a significant risk factor for many other diseases, but many would argue that this alone doesn’t make it a distinct medical disease state.

Body mass index, an imperfect measure, is used to determine obesity, people who are otherwise healthy are being diagnosed as obese.

One Third of Americans

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.7% of Americans are obese. Obesity-related conditions, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers, are some of the leading causes of preventable death.