3 ms·

> fatness is not an illness, so fat people by default still count as just plain healthy No, not even this is true. The Mayo Clinic describes obesity as a “comp

> fatness is not an illness, so fat people by default still count as just plain healthy No, not even this is true. The Mayo Clinic describes obesity as a “complex disease” and “medical problem”[1], which is synonymous with “illness” or, at a bare minimum, short of what one could reasonably call “healthy”. The Cleveland Clinic calls it “a chronic…and complex disease”. [2] Wikipedia describes it as “a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease”. [1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obesity/symptoms-causes/syc-20375742 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obesity/sympt... [2] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11209-weight-control-and-obesity https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11209-weight-...

perching_aix 1y ago
Well I'll be damned, in some ways I'm glad to hear there's progress on this. The original cited trend was really concerning.
- yunwal 1y ago
  Obesity has been considered a disease since the term existed. Overweight is the term that is used for weight that’s abnormally high without necessarily indicating disease. There’s been some confusion around this because people erroneously defined bmi limits for obesity, but it has always referred to the concept of having such a high body fat content that it’s unhealthy/dangerous
  - blackqueeriroh 1y ago
    This is false. Obesity wasn’t considered a disease until 2013. [1] The term has been around since the late 17th century [2] [1]: https://obesitymedicine.org/blog/ama-adopts-policy-recognize-obesity-disease/ https://obesitymedicine.org/blog/ama-adopts-policy-recognize... [2]: https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2019/october/the-politics-of-disease#:~:text=The%20medical%20term%20obesity%20was,Hottentot%20Venus%20from%20South%20Africa). https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2019/october/the-politics-of-...
typpilol 1y ago
Thank God. It's so illogical it hurts when they say it.
blackqueeriroh 1y ago
Please learn that the definition of obesity as a disease was not based on any particular set of reproducible factors that would make it a disease, aka a distinct and repeatable pathology, which is how basically every other disease in clinical medicine is defined, but instead, it was done by a vote of the American Medical Association at its convention, over the objections of its own expert committee convened to study the issue. [1] In fact, this designation is so hotly debated that just this year, a 56-member expert panel convened by the Lancet said that obesity is not always a disease. [2] [1] https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ama/39918 https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ama/39918 [2] https://www.newagebd.net/post/health/255408/experts-decide-obesity-doesnt-always-mean-disease https://www.newagebd.net/post/health/255408/experts-decide-o...
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- philwelch 1y ago
  > a distinct and repeatable pathology, which is how basically every other disease in clinical medicine is defined Even if you want to split hairs and say that it should be classified as a “syndrome” instead of a “disease”, it doesn’t make a difference because someone suffering from a syndrome with an unknown pathology is still unhealthy. This isn’t a useful definition because there are many diseases we don’t understand the pathology of, such as virtually all mental illnesses. Furthermore, this definition doesn’t apply to obesity at all because we do know what causes obesity: calorie surplus. The usual counterargument to this is “we don’t know why people overeat” but that’s sophistry because you can always keep asking “why” longer than you can come up with answers. Alcoholism doesn’t stop being a disease just because we don’t know why some people compulsively drink to excess and others don’t, and a guy who drinks a bottle of whiskey every day is not healthy even if he is yet to develop cirrhosis of the liver. > it was done by a vote of the American Medical Association at its convention, over the objections of its own expert committee convened to study the issue Yeah, it’s a lot easier for deranged ideologies like HAES to influence a single committee than the entire AMA. This kind of thing is a constant issue and is why I don’t just take institutions and “experts” at their word anymore when they make nonsensical pronouncements.

perching_aix 1y ago

Well I'll be damned, in some ways I'm glad to hear there's progress on this. The original cited trend was really concerning.

yunwal 1y ago
Obesity has been considered a disease since the term existed. Overweight is the term that is used for weight that’s abnormally high without necessarily indicating disease. There’s been some confusion around this because people erroneously defined bmi limits for obesity, but it has always referred to the concept of having such a high body fat content that it’s unhealthy/dangerous
- blackqueeriroh 1y ago
  This is false. Obesity wasn’t considered a disease until 2013. [1] The term has been around since the late 17th century [2] [1]: https://obesitymedicine.org/blog/ama-adopts-policy-recognize-obesity-disease/ https://obesitymedicine.org/blog/ama-adopts-policy-recognize... [2]: https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2019/october/the-politics-of-disease#:~:text=The%20medical%20term%20obesity%20was,Hottentot%20Venus%20from%20South%20Africa). https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2019/october/the-politics-of-...

typpilol 1y ago

Thank God. It's so illogical it hurts when they say it.

blackqueeriroh 1y ago

Please learn that the definition of obesity as a disease was not based on any particular set of reproducible factors that would make it a disease, aka a distinct and repeatable pathology, which is how basically every other disease in clinical medicine is defined, but instead, it was done by a vote of the American Medical Association at its convention, over the objections of its own expert committee convened to study the issue. [1] In fact, this designation is so hotly debated that just this year, a 56-member expert panel convened by the Lancet said that obesity is not always a disease. [2] [1] https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ama/39918 https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ama/39918 [2] https://www.newagebd.net/post/health/255408/experts-decide-obesity-doesnt-always-mean-disease https://www.newagebd.net/post/health/255408/experts-decide-o...

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
philwelch 1y ago
> a distinct and repeatable pathology, which is how basically every other disease in clinical medicine is defined Even if you want to split hairs and say that it should be classified as a “syndrome” instead of a “disease”, it doesn’t make a difference because someone suffering from a syndrome with an unknown pathology is still unhealthy. This isn’t a useful definition because there are many diseases we don’t understand the pathology of, such as virtually all mental illnesses. Furthermore, this definition doesn’t apply to obesity at all because we do know what causes obesity: calorie surplus. The usual counterargument to this is “we don’t know why people overeat” but that’s sophistry because you can always keep asking “why” longer than you can come up with answers. Alcoholism doesn’t stop being a disease just because we don’t know why some people compulsively drink to excess and others don’t, and a guy who drinks a bottle of whiskey every day is not healthy even if he is yet to develop cirrhosis of the liver. > it was done by a vote of the American Medical Association at its convention, over the objections of its own expert committee convened to study the issue Yeah, it’s a lot easier for deranged ideologies like HAES to influence a single committee than the entire AMA. This kind of thing is a constant issue and is why I don’t just take institutions and “experts” at their word anymore when they make nonsensical pronouncements.