The Surprising Reason Why Being Overweight Isn’t Healthy

A healthy-weight wake-up call
Without a doubt, the medical community needs to take a hard look at the secret biases that may be coloring how they care for overweight women. But some progress is being made.

The National Institutes of Health has been encouraging researchers to start identifying and fixing the barriers heavy people face when trying to get health care, says Susan Yanovski, MD, co-director of the Office of Obesity Research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. And some hospitals are adding larger surgical instruments, wheelchairs, and other equipment.

There’s an even bigger problem, though: when heavy women are ignored, the obesity epidemic is ignored, too—and that has to stop, experts say. “Being mistreated or dismissed by your doctor because of your weight is unacceptable. But what’s just as important is that doctors are missing an opportunity to help their patients lose weight and improve their health,” says Dr. Huizinga of Johns Hopkins.

“Doctors and patients need to be able to speak openly about weight-related issues, whether it’s the diseases caused by excess weight or the reasons why a patient overeats. That level of conversation requires a certain degree of comfort, and the basis for that is mutual respect, plain and simple,” she says. “That’s how we can help all women get healthier.”