According to a September 2024 data brief from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 40.3 percent of U.S. adults were considered obese between August 2021 and August 2023.

BMI, a widely used measure, has long been criticized for being too simplistic. It calculates obesity based only on height and weight, often misclassifying individuals. For example, athletes with high muscle mass may have a high BMI despite having normal fat levels.

MORE: Obesity prevalence among US adults falls slightly to 40%, remains higher than 10 years ago: CDC The report further outlines the diagnostic criteria for obesity, combining elevated BMI with ...

Leading health experts challenge traditional BMI measurements and introduce a comprehensive new approach to diagnosing obesity, potentially affecting millions.

An international team of doctors proposed a new way to define obesity that's not based solely on BMI. Here's what they suggest.

The condition is better measured by looking at factors like inflammation, insulin resistance, and glucose tolerance, according to the doctor. In some cases, using BMI can result in “muscular athletes” being labeled as obese, he noted, and people with “normal” BMI can sometimes have “harmful” levels of visceral (abdominal) fat.

People with higher body mass indexes say they're relieved by experts' new guidance to downplay the use of BMI in diagnosing people with weight problems or obesity.

CDC officials say they extended the guidance now because they are seeing more H5N1 patients whose illness they cannot track back to an infected bird or cow.

As of March 2020, nearly 42% of US adults had obesity, with the report estimating that more than a billion people are living with obesity worldwide.

The Lancet Commission has declared obesity a disease. With enough controversy to fill a buffet table, their new definition is sparking heated debates in science, media, and beyond. But does this really change anything?

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Racial discrimination, bullying, sexism and other forms of discrimination have also been shown to increase the risk for eating disorders. “We've had patients who have remained ill for years,” Richmond told Salon in a phone interview, saying the pandemic “was just an unbelievable psychic wound.”