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This group also had much higher rates of serious illnesses, and their risk of dying was significantly higher.
By Shula Rosen
A new Israeli-led study is revolutionizing how doctors define obesity, and the changes could mean that 50 million Americans are now considered obese, even if they were previously labeled merely overweight.
The research, led by Prof. Dror Dicker of Sharon Hospital and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, no longer relies solely on the traditional body mass index (BMI). Instead, it adds another important piece to the puzzle: waist size in relation to height, along with any related health issues, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
“If your waist-to-height ratio is over 0.5 and you’ve got one of those conditions, you’re no longer just overweight, you fall into the obesity category,” explained Dr. Dicker. He worked on the study with Prof. Orna Reges from Ariel University and Dr. Tomas Karpati of the Holon Institute of Technology.
The team examined health data from approximately 44,000 adults in the U.S. and found that nearly 19% of people who thought they were only slightly overweight met the new obesity criteria. That matters because this group also had much higher rates of serious illnesses, and their risk of dying was significantly higher.
“When comparing newly classified obesity patients to normal-weight individuals without underlying conditions, mortality risk increases by 50%,” said Dr. Karpati.
The findings could also have a significant impact back in Israel. Based on similar trends, around 6–7% of Israeli adults might also move into the obesity category under this new system. That could lead to earlier treatments and the development of new health guidelines.
As Prof. Reges put it, “We need to understand how this group responds to treatment. There’s still a lot to figure out, but it’s a big step forward.”
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