Is obesity a disease? Sometimes but not always, experts decide [Video]

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. This is why the World Health Organization among others consider it to be a “chronic complex disease”.

On the other hand, there are also plenty …