Current medical training focuses on weight and body mass index , exacerbating anti-obesity bias and increasing the risk of eating disorders, the authors said. And it doesn't give future doctors adequate education on how to encourage healthier eating habits.
"Mainstream medicine is still very focused on linking weight to health," said Kearney Gunsalus, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership."Because people with obesity and higher body weights are more likely to have health problems, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that the weight itself is causing those problems.
"When you look at some of the newest studies on obesity surgeries and the use of medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, it appears that patients can see health benefits even without weight loss," said Dr. Ellen House, co-author of the publication and an associate professor at the Medical Partnership."We really love things that are clear-cut and black and white in medicine.
"Overweight patients are less likely to get the appropriate screenings or treatments for their medical concerns," said House, who is also a board-certified psychiatrist."Physicians will miss the asthma, they'll miss the cancer, because they attribute symptoms to weight when weight isn't what's causing the patient's concerns."
"I think doctors are trying to help people be healthier by advising them to lose weight; they're just not aware of the harms that can be done by that advice," Gunsalus said."If I could wave a magic wand and have doctors do one thing differently when interacting with their patients, it would be to start from the assumption that every patient wants to be and is capable of being healthy."The annual influenza vaccine has become less effective on average over time.
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