WATCH: Health specialist Dr. Al Zentner explains how family doctors are on the frontline of treating obesity and how they’re getting new guidance about how to tackle the disease.
TORONTO – Body mass index should be calculated at the doctor’s office. Don’t dole out medication to help patients lose weight. But it’s okay to offer weight loss advice to overweight and obese patients.
On Monday, the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care issued new guidelines to help frontline health care workers prevent and manage adult obesity.
“On average, adults gain one pound a year. The creeping pounds add up quickly and can result in significant weight gain. With excess weight comes the increased risk of several chronic conditions,” Dr. Paula Brauer, chair of the task force on adult obesity, said in a statement.
“This is why it is essential for doctors to regularly track patients’ weight and when necessary discuss a suitable strategy to manage the extra pounds,” she said.
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The task force is combing over recommendations for a string of guidelines – Pap tests for cervical cancer, breast cancer screening and chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
In this case, their recommendations were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Some of the guidelines include:
- Taking the weight and height of all patients over the age of 18 to calculate body mass index
- For adults of normal weight, the Task Force recommends against offering formal structured interventions aimed at preventing weight gain
- For adults who are obese and are at high risk of diabetes, the Task Force strongly recommends that practitioners offer or refer to structured behavioural interventions aimed at weight loss
- Medication shouldn’t be offered as a weight loss intervention
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Options could include changing of diet, exercise and lifestyle, or counselling, education and environmental modifications.
Read more about the latest guidelines here.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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