Rounds NEWS FROM AMERICA’S BEST MEDICAL SOCIETY
That was just a part of the war on the waistline. The Illinois delegation brought a similar resolution on sugar- sweetened beverages and SNAP. The physicians from Michigan called for the recognition of obesity as a disease. And the AMA Council on Science and Public Health issued a 14-page report entitled Is Obesity a Disease? Council Chair Russ Kridel, MD, of
Houston, said the panel stopped short of answering that question in the affirma- tive. He said the uncertain definitions of
Texans joined American Medical Association delegates from across the country to wage a battle against obesity at the annual AMA meeting in Chicago.
AMA house fights fat
BY STEVE LEVINE, TMA DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS With strong support from Texas, the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association House of Delegates declared obesity a disease and took several other swipes at the epidemic that threat- ens Americans’ health and America’s pocketbook. More than 100 Texas physicians, residents, and medical students representing
TMA, various sections, and national specialty societies participated in the June 15–19 meeting in Chicago. The Texas delegation left the meeting pleased with a key election victory and the adoption of numerous Texas policy statements, but sad- dened by the close defeat of an outstanding candidate for AMA president.
What’s in a name? The Texas delegates came to Chicago with a dual mandate on obesity. The month be- fore, the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates said insurance plans should “include obesity as a covered outpatient medical condition” and that AMA should work to remove sugar-sweetened beverages from the food stamp program — also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“obesity” and “disease,” coupled with the inability to link a high body mass index (BMI) to consistent morbidity, left the council unable to conclude that obesity is a disease “in the classic, commonly ac- cepted way of looking at a disease.” Dr. Kridel said his council was con- cerned that proclaiming obesity a dis- ease might dissuade some people from eating right or exercising more to stay healthy or take weight off. “We don’t want people to think now that obesity is a disease, we’re just going to treat it with medicine or surgery,” he said. “If we call it a disease, we don’t want to remove personal responsibility.”
The house adopted the council’s re- port without objection but did not stop there. Delegates endorsed the Illinois SNAP resolution before moving on to Michigan’s request that AMA recognize obesity as “a disease state with multiple pathophysiological aspects requiring a range of interventions.”
Dallas endocrinologist Jonathan Lef- fert, MD, led the fight for the resolution. “The scientific evidence is overwhelm- ing,” he told fellow delegates. “Obesity is a disease.” The Texas resolution banning sugar- sweetened beverages from SNAP was
August 2013 TEXAS MEDICINE 9
TED GRUDZINSKI
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