AMA Journal of Ethics^®

This visual abstract is based on an article from the July 2023 issue of the journal.

Weight loss is not a safe, effective, or permanent method of health promotion, and pharmacotherapeutical approaches pose specific risks to adolescents. 

Underlying ideological foundations of stigma and equipment inadequacy include thin-centrism and inadequate representation of fat people in health care organizational leadership.  

Dr Madeline Ward joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article: “Why We Need to Stop Labeling Behaviors Influencing a Person’s Weight Ideal or Healthy."

In the early 20th century, the United States, as an industrialized nation with more food than ever, began to grapple with obesity.

While useful in analyzing population trends in relative body weight, BMI possesses multiple shortcomings when used as an individualized health screening tool.

Editorial Fellows Astrid Floegel-Shetty and Kratika Mishra join Ethics Talk to discuss the development of this month’s theme issue on medicine’s overreliance on BMI, and fat stigma researcher Ragen Chastain talks about how patients can be harmed by BMI surgical guidelines and what to do if it happens to you.

Use of body mass index as a health care metric is controversial, especially in candidacy assessments for gender-affirming surgery.  

Size-based health and beauty ideals emanated from eugenic pseudoscientific postulates, and BMI continues to advance white supremacist embodiment norms. 

Dania Pagarkar joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Drs Erin Harrop and Lisa Erlanger: “How Should We Approach Body Size Diversity in Clinical Trials?”