What is obesity – is it merely about BMI?
Introduction
In my earlier post “Is obesity a disease or a risk factor for other conditions”? I had highlighted that now obesity is recognised universally as ‘a chronic, relapsing, progressive disease process.’ However, misconceptions still abound about ‘what is obesity’, not only in the public at large but even among the health professionals. Traditionally, when talking about what is obesity, we tend to erroneously confuse how we measure obesity with the definition of obesity. One such popular and well-known measure of obesity, which will be discussed subsequently, is Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI However, obesity is not about BMI; at its most basic, the term obesity describes the presence of ‘excess’ fat in the body.
Definition of obesity
In the year 1998, WHO defined obesity as under:
“A condition of abnormal or excessive body fat accumulation, to the extent that health may be impaired.”
In the year 2010, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, part of the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, described obesity as under:
“Obesity is defined as a disease process characterised by excessive body fat accumulation with multiple organ-specific consequences.”