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By LEIGH BEESON-U. GEORGIA<\/a><\/p>\n Current medical training focuses on weight and body mass index (BMI), exacerbating anti-obesity\u00a0bias<\/a>\u00a0and increasing the risk of eating disorders, the authors say. And it doesn\u2019t give future doctors adequate education on how to encourage healthier eating habits.<\/p>\n \u201cMainstream medicine is still very focused on linking weight to health,\u201d says Kearney Gunsalus, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor at the Augusta University\/University of Georgia Medical Partnership.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause people with obesity and higher body weights are more likely to have health problems, it\u2019s easy to jump to the conclusion that the weight itself is causing those problems. And if you assume that the weight is causing the problems, it seems logical to assume that weight loss is the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Research has shown that being overweight may not mean being unhealthy, the researchers say.<\/p>\n The researchers advocate that small changes to medical education and in how health care providers interact with their patients could have a real impact on some of the greatest health challenges facing the world today.<\/p>\n BMI has long been the standard for sorting individuals into four main categories: underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obese. And it\u2019s taught in medical school as a way of gauging a patient\u2019s general health.<\/p>\n The problem is it\u2019s not accurate, the researchers say. BMI overestimates the number of people who are unhealthy.<\/p>\n Medical education on nutrition should instead focus on objective measures of cardiometabolic health.<\/p>\n Cardiometabolic health includes things like blood pressure, insulin resistance, cholesterol levels, and more. And it is a much stronger predictor of overall health.<\/p>\n Previous research demonstrated that almost half of Americans deemed overweight by BMI standards are actually metabolically healthy. About one in three whose BMI is in the \u201chealthy\u201d range are actually unhealthy when assessed by more comprehensive measures.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at some of the newest studies on obesity surgeries and the use of medications like\u00a0Ozempic and Wegovy<\/a>, it appears that patients can see health benefits even without weight loss,\u201d says Ellen House, coauthor of the paper and an associate professor at the Medical Partnership.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really love things that are clear-cut and black and white in medicine. But if the benefits precede and appear to be independent of weight loss, we need to shift the conversations physicians have with their patients to focus more on health and not weight loss.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to focusing exclusively on weight loss and BMI, current medical education often neglects to address\u00a0weight stigma<\/a>, the researchers say.<\/p>\n Weight stigma connects obesity with moral failures, laziness, and gluttony without accounting for the biologic and systemic factors that intersect with weight. These factors include availability of fresh, healthy foods, the ability to afford those foods, and access to safe spaces to exercise, among others.<\/p>\n This bias may lead physicians to be less empathetic toward their overweight patients and to provide lower quality care.<\/p>\n \u201cOverweight patients are less likely to get the appropriate screenings or treatments for their medical concerns,\u201d says House, who is also a board-certified psychiatrist. \u201cPhysicians will miss the asthma, they\u2019ll miss the cancer, because they attribute symptoms to weight when weight isn\u2019t what\u2019s causing the patient\u2019s concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n Those negative interactions where health concerns are dismissed with a simple \u201cjust lose weight\u201d demoralizes patients and can make them less likely to share problems going forward. Shaming patients for their weight can sour patients on the health care system in general, prompting them to stop seeking medical care even when they really need it, the researchers say.<\/p>\n Reframing the conversations between doctor and patient to focus on healthful behaviors, such as moving more and avoiding labeling foods as inherently \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad,\u201d can go a long way in encouraging individuals to move toward health.<\/p>\n \u201cI think doctors are trying to help people be healthier by advising them to lose weight; they\u2019re just not aware of the harms that can be done by that advice,\u201d Gunsalus says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I could wave a magic wand and have doctors do one thing differently when interacting with their patients, it would be to start from the assumption that every patient wants to be and is capable of being healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n The paper appears in\u00a0Medical Science Educator<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Source:\u00a0University of Georgia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n Previously Published<\/a> on futurity.org with Creative Commons License<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community. A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities. A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community. <\/p>\nBMI ISN\u2019T AN ACCURATE PICTURE OF HEALTH<\/h3>\n
ANTI-FAT BIAS<\/h3>\n
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