A new report published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology challenges the conventional reliance on Body Mass Index (BMI) to diagnose obesity, advocating for a more nuanced definition. The international commission,

New recommendations on how to define obesity would reduce the emphasis on body mass index and also take into account health problems from extra weight and other measurements

Instead of using the controversial body mass index, or BMI, to assess weight, an international group of scientists proposes an approach that looks at how excess body fat affects health

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.