Obesity is typically assessed by measuring someone's body mass index, but now researchers are calling for a more nuanced approach that could help with treatment

Body Mass Index, or BMI, has long been criticized as an unreliable method for measuring obesity — and now a group of experts is sharing new recommendations for how to use it.

By coincidence (they started before GLP -1 drugs were approved for slimming), a group of 56 doctors have just answered that question. This group, called the Lancet Commission, and organised by the journal of that name, have developed a better way of diagnosing obesity—one that distinguishes when it has become pathological.

A global group of experts has suggested a new approach to diagnosing and treating obesity that does not rely solely on the much-contested body mass index (BMI).

An international commission made the case for focusing on body fat quantity and the illnesses people experience.

Our reframing acknowledges the nuanced reality of obesity and allows for personalized care,” said Dr. Francesco Rubino of King’s College London.

A new report says only using BMI to determine if a patient has obesity leads to under-diagnosing people who are ill and over-diagnosing people who don't currently deal with the negative health consequences of obesity.

Using body-mass index to tell who is overweight or obese is not reliable and can result in misdiagnosis, the Commission on Clinical Obesity says in a new paper in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya/ Pexels The way obesity is diagnosed needs to become more sophisticated, an international commission has concluded.

A group of experts from around the world are proposing an alternative way of defining clinical obesity, eschewing the commonly referenced body max index (BMI) and instead approaching the condition

Obesity, long determined by the flawed metric of BMI, should be diagnosed based on other measurements, experts argue.