"Every single time I would go into the doctor's office, it was: 'She's overweight,' 'You need to get her into sports. You need to reduce her food.' That shaped what our home life looked like and what I was allowed to think about myself. Now Greenlow is a health coach who helps families navigate weight stigma."
"When I work with my own primary care patients, I find that focusing on more evidence-based metrics including blood pressure, glucose tolerance, mobility, and mood is much less stigmatizing. And it's more scientific, too."
"In 2025, the Lancet published a major report on obesity, and the very first line acknowledges that BMI provides 'inadequate information' about health, highlighting the need for alternative assessment approaches."
Weight-focused medical conversations often shame patients and fail to provide meaningful health insights. BMI has significant limitations in assessing overall health and can perpetuate stigma that negatively impacts patients' self-perception and wellbeing. A size-inclusive approach to primary care emphasizes multiple evidence-based health metrics beyond body weight. Blood pressure, glucose tolerance, mobility, and mood provide more scientifically accurate indicators of health status. Patients can advocate for more comprehensive health assessments by requesting discussions centered on these alternative metrics. This approach reduces stigmatization while improving the quality of medical care and patient outcomes.
#bmi-limitations #weight-stigma-in-healthcare #size-inclusive-medicine #alternative-health-metrics #patient-advocacy
Read at www.npr.org
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