It’s time to start treating obesity

Abstract

In our modern world, losing weight is difficult. Giving high priority to physical activity and healthy eating is not easy for most people, and assigning high priority to weight management with patients is challenging for clinicians. Third-party payers don’t recognize the value of allotting funds to pay for time used to treat obesity. Yet obesity will soon be the number one public health problem in the USA. The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically over the last few decades, with the latest statistics showing that 26% of Americans are obese and another 35% are overweight. 1 Although health professionals readily treat the comorbidities of obesity (e.g., systemic hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus), many do not treat obesity directly. The health care system should no longer overlook weight management, because the obesity epidemic is not likely to abate without the medical community recognizing the serious consequences of obesity and addressing the need for overweight patients to lose weight and maintain that loss. Many studies have shown that obesity negatively impacts health and quality of life. 2,3 Compelling data link obesity to multiple negative health consequences such as diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease. 4 Obesity is linked to poor self-esteem and an increase in mental health problems, 5 and impairs quality of life similarly to major depression and other serious diseases. 3,6 Obesity is recognized as a serious threat to