Millions Of Overweight People Unaware Of Cardiometabolic Dangers

Millions of fat people are unaware the they or their kids are fat.

Experts meeting at the 2nd International Congress on Abdominal Obesity (ICAO) issued a warning that millions of individuals around the globe are at risk from the cardiometabolic consequences of being overweight. Worryingly, the experts suggest that these people are not being identified by their doctors.

The International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk (ICCR) released the statement from the ICAO, at a symposium sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline. The statement suggests that the media tends to focus on extremes when discussing obesity: either skinny celebrities who gain or lose a few pounds or the morbidly obese who need the help of fire-fighters to leave their homes. As the proportion of the general population which is overweight or obese increases, so the perception of what is the norm of a healthy weight is being reset. In the minds of society as a whole, including healthcare practitioners, the mental picture of an overweight or obese person has been reset inaccurately to a far heavier model.

Yet it is the millions across the world with BMIs above 25 who may already be suffering the early stages of high blood pressure, dyslipidemia and diabetes, who could benefit most from early intervention, say ICCR.

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