New Obesity Definition Could Hide Health Risks, Warns Global Study

New Delhi: A new global study has raised serious concerns about a proposed change to the way obesity is defined, warning that it could drastically reduce reported obesity rates and make it harder to prevent serious health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Published in PLOS Global Public Health, the study analyzed health data from 142,250 adults across 56 countries. It compared the current Body Mass Index (BMI)-based definition of obesity with a proposed new standard that would require a person to already have a related health condition—such as diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol—to be classified as clinically obese.

Lead author Rodrigo Carrillo-Larco, assistant professor of global health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, emphasized the importance of how we define obesity. “Obesity is a serious problem, and the definitions we use affect everything—from treatment decisions and healthcare spending to public awareness and disease monitoring,” he said.

The research team included experts from Emory University and Johns Hopkins University (USA), University of Queensland (Australia), Zhejiang University School of Medicine (China), and two universities in Peru. Their findings show that obesity prevalence dropped sharply under the new criteria, with some countries seeing a decline of more than 50 percent.

One striking example came from Malawi, where obesity prevalence decreased by 68 percent among men and 53 percent among women under the proposed definition. However, researchers stress that this dramatic drop does not reflect an actual improvement in public health—it’s simply the result of narrowing the criteria.

“The reduction in obesity is not real—it’s an artificial drop because the definition is now more strict or complex,” Carrillo-Larco explained. He and his colleagues caution that switching to this new definition could mislead both patients and healthcare providers, potentially giving people a false sense of security about their health.

They also warned of broader challenges the new definition could create, such as inequities in health surveillance, complications in data measurement, and barriers to early intervention.

While the proposed standard might seem more closely aligned with disease risk, the researchers urge careful consideration before any global adoption. Changing the definition could undermine years of public health efforts focused on preventing obesity before it leads to chronic illness.

In summary, the study highlights the importance of maintaining definitions that support early detection, equitable healthcare access, and effective public health strategies—before serious conditions take hold.