Archive · 27 Jul 2025
New Obesity Criteria Could Shift Prevalence, Say Researchers
Scientists looked at a new way to define obesity.
This new way would only say someone is obese if they also have a health problem like diabetes.
They found this would make it seem like fewer people are obese.
But, this drop isn't real because the new definition is harder to meet.
The scientists warn that using the new definition could be a problem for tracking health and helping people.
Researchers studied how new obesity criteria would affect prevalence rates.
The proposed criteria require at least one health condition to diagnose obesity.
Prevalence dropped significantly under the new criteria in the study.
Results varied by nation and gender, with some seeing over 50% drops.
Researchers caution against the new criteria due to potential challenges.
- Who
- Researchers from multiple universities studied obesity criteria.
- What
- Proposed new criteria impact obesity prevalence.
- When
- Not applicable.
- Where
- 56 countries were studied.
- Why
- To understand the impact of new obesity definitions on prevalence and health surveillance.
- Lead Author
- Rodrigo Carrillo-Larco
- Study Focus
- Impact of new obesity criteria
- Criteria Change
- Requires at least one health condition to diagnose obesity
- Surveyed Adults
- 142,250
- Key Finding
- Obesity prevalence would drop significantly
