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Is obesity a disease? Sometimes but not always, experts decide
Paris (AFP) – Do people with obesity have an illness? A panel of global health experts looking at this controversial question announced Wednesday that the definition of obesity should be split into two categories -- and diagnosed using more accurate measurements.
The recommendations hoped to move past the blame and discrimination that often revolve around obesity, which is estimated to affect more than a billion people worldwide.
"The idea of obesity as a disease is at the centre of one of the most controversial and polarising debates in modern medicine," said a paper by the 56-expert commission in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.
On one hand, obesity is known to lead to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some cancers and other health problems. Th...