The Canadian Obesity Guidelines Are Here – Time To Join The Conversation!



As of this morning, the 2020 Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for Obesity Management in Adults are out on the CMAJ and Obesity Canada websites, respectively.

These guidelines present a departure from previous guidelines on a number of important issues.

For one, Obesity is clearly defined as “a prevalent, complex, progressive and relapsing chronic disease, characterized by abnormal or excessive body fat (adiposity), that impairs health.”

Although BMI and waist circumference can still be used for populations surveillance and screening purposes, the ultimate diagnosis should be based on the impact that adiposity has on health and not some arbitrary anthropometric cutoffs.

Other topics that receive strong consideration include the role of weight bias in clinical practice, a departure from solely weight-centric outcome with a focus on health and wellbeing, learning from the body positivity movement, recognising the importance of root causes including psychosocial factors and mental health, and much more.

Given that there will be many questions and issues around many of these topics, especially with regard to implementation in practice, Obesity Canada is also launching an online information and discussion platform OC-Connect-Pro, where health professionals can connect and share information, tap into tools and education about the guidelines.

To join OC-Connect-Pro click here.

@DrSharma
Edmonton, AB