India Updates Obesity Guidelines After 15 Years; Know What Has Changed

India has updated its 15-year-old obesity guidelines after using body mass index or BMI as a tool to measure being overweight. BMI is defined as a measure of body fat based on a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters. A person with a BMI over 30 is usually considered obese.

Doctors, surgeons, physiotherapists, and nutritionists from the National Diabetes Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation (N-DOC), Fortis C-DOC Hospital, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) say that sometimes, those with excess body fat do not always have the BMI over 30 - which means that their health risks can go unnoticed. And so, they have redefined obesity for Indians in a landmark study, addressing some unique health challenges faced today.

These new guidelines for obesity treatment and diagnosis are similar to the new definition released by The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal on January 15. "This study gives Indians a unique, targeted approach to tackle obesity and related diseases," said Dr. Naval Vikram, Department of Medicine, AIIMS.

Excess body fat causes many dangerous physical health issues and experts deem obesity as a warning sign for many dangerous diseases like cancer, heart issues, and type 2 diabetes.

According to the Lancet researchers, clinical obesity is a condition of illness that - akin to the notion of chronic disease in other medical specialties, directly results from the effect of excess adiposity on the function of organs and tissues.

While obesity means having too much body fat which harms your health, it is defined by body fat, and measuring it accurately often requires special machines like Bioelectrical Impedance or DEXA scans, which are expensive and not commonly available in clinics. People with obesity store different amounts of fat, but where the fat is located in the body matters a lot.

According to studies, too much fat around the belly is more dangerous and increases the risk of diseases compared to fat stored in other areas.

According to Indian researchers, new guidelines were needed for obesity due to the following factors:

The 2009 guidelines relied only on the BMI to diagnose obesity, which experts say is not enough.

Research says there is a strong link between belly fat, inflammation, and the early onset of dangerous health issues among Indians.

The new guidelines separate “harmless obesity” from obesity that causes health issues.

A few important changes in the new obesity guidelines include:

Most Indians have abdominal fat, which is not considered a key factor in diagnosing obesity, as it can cause insulin resistance and many other life-threatening conditions.

Obesity causes many health-related issues like diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis.

Obesity is now classified into two stages: stage 1, which follows increased adiposity (BMI > 23 kg/m2) without apparent effects on organ functions or routine daily activities. While this stage does not cause pathological problems, progress to Stage 2 can be worrying.

Stage 2 obesity, an advanced state with an increased BMI of more than 23 kg/2, abdominal adiposity, excess waist circumference (WC), or waist-to-height ratio (W-HtR), impacts physical and organ functions.

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