UK to do away with the word "obese" in healthcare

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Replies

  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
    Could just go back to the old term... FAT. (No, I don't advocate that and mean no harm in using the term...) Obese is a true medical term and quite frankly there is a time in which it must be used as the OP said... To provide a reality check... Making terms nicer will not save lives... What saves lives is taking action and removing obesity from people... not just their language.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    "Mentally Retarded" was once a valid term as well, and had a real meaning. Now there are campaigns to stamp out the word. Anything can get bastardized in usage. And there is always someone waiting to claim offense.

    I agree. The word "retarded" has become derogatory in slang language, so I can see the point there, but not with the term "obese" really. I rarely hear of the word "obese" being used in a derogatory fashion.

    Yeah, you don't hear "You're so [insert expletive here] obese" or something like that in slang usage, it's more like "You're an [insert expletive here] fata**. That's what people say when they *really* want to be mean.
  • bm99
    bm99 Posts: 597 Member
    Could just go back to the old term... FAT. (No, I don't advocate that and mean no harm in using the term...) Obese is a true medical term and quite frankly there is a time in which it must be used as the OP said... To provide a reality check... Making terms nicer will not save lives... What saves lives is taking action and removing obesity from people... not just their language.


    Fat is fat is fat is fat. Fat is not a horrible term.

    If someone means offense, no matter what sugar sweet words they use, you will know you are being insulted.
  • stacygayle
    stacygayle Posts: 349 Member
    "Dude quit acting so obese".


    Yeah, I don't think it works.

    :laugh:
  • stacygayle
    stacygayle Posts: 349 Member
    Unfortunately for me and my small stature, I am considered obese when people who are of average height are considered normal weight. So not fair. If I was only taller then I'd be the perfect weight for my height and not considered obese :tongue:
  • kazzari
    kazzari Posts: 473 Member
    This is just crazy to me: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9252311/Obesity-a-derogatory-word-says-Nice.html

    When I stared in 2010, I was quite obese with a BMI of 34. Realizing this was my wake-up call that shocked me out of denial and into living better and being healthier. I don't understand what doing away with the terminology is going to do for any obese person other than continue to feed into their denial about their weight and continue to support a society that is all about avoiding hurt feelings instead of encouraging better living. The term "obese" is a medical term, not a derogatory one.

    Ugh...

    That is just like the sizes in clothing, I have a pair of jeans from before I was married that are size 11/12 28 years ago but when comparing them to a pair of size 6 that my daughter use to wear they are about the same size. Head games are not healthy.

    It is different with clothing...it is not a head game. We discussed "vanity sizing" on another fitness site a while back and someone who worked in the clothing industry and was doing research on the sizing issue corrected us and explained why, for example, a size 4 is bigger than it used to be. Apparently, size 10 represents the average size of the members of a particular clothing line's demographic. As that population gets heavier on average, size 10 grows to fit the new average size for that clothing line, and so do all the other sizes grow proportionately. This also explains why a size 10 (or whatever) sold at Walmart runs larger than a higher end label of the same size...the demographic population for Walmart clothing lines tends to bigger than the demographic population for the high end label. It was a very interesting explanation and made perfect sense.
  • shadowkitty22
    shadowkitty22 Posts: 495 Member
    Personally I'm not obese and haven't been for awhile. I stepped off the cliff into morbid obesity some time ago and just apparently never really cared until the beginning of this year when the scale hit a whole brand new set of numbers that started with a THREE!

    SO. NOT. COOL.

    So that's when things finally got serious for me and I decided to turn my life around. I don't think my doctors ever even used the words obese or morbidly obese with me. I had one tell me that my weight would be fine for me if I was 7 foot tall. Haha. Turns out that didn't work either.

    So while I think getting rid of the word obese is kinda silly, I don't think stopping the use of it is really going to change anything for the obese people of the world. They're going to have to want to lose the weight on their own, regardless of the clinical term.

    But almost 4.5 months into this journey of mine, I've dropped 47 pounds and my BMI has gone down 7.82 points. I'm still morbidly obese and will continue to be obese for quite some time but I'm working on it and that's the important part. Kinda sad but I'm looking forward to the day when I can drop the "morbid" part of my obesity and just be considered "obese". I'm only 16 pounds away from that goal and then I can tackle getting through being obese to just overweight and then continue on into a healthy range. :)
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    This is just crazy to me: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9252311/Obesity-a-derogatory-word-says-Nice.html

    When I stared in 2010, I was quite obese with a BMI of 34. Realizing this was my wake-up call that shocked me out of denial and into living better and being healthier. I don't understand what doing away with the terminology is going to do for any obese person other than continue to feed into their denial about their weight and continue to support a society that is all about avoiding hurt feelings instead of encouraging better living. The term "obese" is a medical term, not a derogatory one.

    Ugh...

    That is just like the sizes in clothing, I have a pair of jeans from before I was married that are size 11/12 28 years ago but when comparing them to a pair of size 6 that my daughter use to wear they are about the same size. Head games are not healthy.

    It is different with clothing...it is not a head game. We discussed "vanity sizing" on another fitness site a while back and someone who worked in the clothing industry and was doing research on the sizing issue corrected us and explained why, for example, a size 4 is bigger than it used to be. Apparently, size 10 represents the average size of the members of a particular clothing line's demographic. As that population gets heavier on average, size 10 grows to fit the new average size for that clothing line, and so do all the other sizes grow proportionately. This also explains why a size 10 (or whatever) sold at Walmart runs larger than a higher end label of the same size...the demographic population for Walmart clothing lines tends to bigger than the demographic population for the high end label. It was a very interesting explanation and made perfect sense.

    It may make sense for the store, but it doesn't make sense for the consumer. Sizing should be based on a standard set of measurements. There are some stores I can't even shop in because their size 14's are the largest size and super tight on me. In other stores, a size 12 is a perfect fit, and these two stores are ext door to each other in the same mall. It's irritating. I've seen sizes range from 12 up to 16W with my measurements (32" waist and 45" hips).
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    Personally I'm not obese and haven't been for awhile. I stepped off the cliff into morbid obesity some time ago and just apparently never really cared until the beginning of this year when the scale hit a whole brand new set of numbers that started with a THREE!

    SO. NOT. COOL.

    So that's when things finally got serious for me and I decided to turn my life around. I don't think my doctors ever even used the words obese or morbidly obese with me. I had one tell me that my weight would be fine for me if I was 7 foot tall. Haha. Turns out that didn't work either.

    So while I think getting rid of the word obese is kinda silly, I don't think stopping the use of it is really going to change anything for the obese people of the world. They're going to have to want to lose the weight on their own, regardless of the clinical term.

    But almost 4.5 months into this journey of mine, I've dropped 47 pounds and my BMI has gone down 7.82 points. I'm still morbidly obese and will continue to be obese for quite some time but I'm working on it and that's the important part. Kinda sad but I'm looking forward to the day when I can drop the "morbid" part of my obesity and just be considered "obese". I'm only 16 pounds away from that goal and then I can tackle getting through being obese to just overweight and then continue on into a healthy range. :)

    Congratulations on your progress!

    As to the doctor's comments, I think many doctors are afraid to use the word "obese" for fear of the patient being offended or getting upset. I wish they would use it more when necessary.

    Keep going! You can get to "healthy." :smile:
  • 13519485
    13519485 Posts: 264
    The UK is not going to "do away" with the term "obese" in healthcare. NICE's guidance is: http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/12109/59116/59116.pdf
    3.2 The Group noted that aiming for a ‘healthier weight’, rather than focusing on preventing or combating obesity, may be a more acceptable and achievable goal for many people. Members also felt this goal could be accommodated within a general health and wellbeing agenda. The PDG heard that the term ‘obesity’ may be unhelpful – while some people may like to ‘hear it like it is’, others may consider it derogatory. Bearing these differing views in mind, the PDG acknowledged the need to choose the most appropriate language for any given community or situation.

    and
    Directors of public health and local government communications leads should carefully consider the type of language and media to use to communicate about obesity. For example, it might be better to refer to a ‘healthier weight’ rather than ‘obesity’ – and to talk more generally about health and wellbeing or specific community issues. Making explicit the relevance of a wide range of initiatives to tackling obesity, for example, within annual reports may also be helpful.

    The draft guidance doesn't say anything about actually doing away with the term "obesity" completely. The main concern is tailoring patient care to achieve the most positive outcome. Some patients may respond well to talk of "obesity", and others may have the opposite reaction which could in turn inhibit their weight loss, and add to their obesity problem.

    It is possible that this draft guidance will change before it's issue in November, but I don't think even the final guidance will call for the complete cessation of using the term "obesity" in clinical practice, but only that practitioners use whatever language they feel will be beneficial on a patient by patient basis. Also, the final guidance in November will come complete with guidance directed specifically at medical practitioners. :smile:
  • kazzari
    kazzari Posts: 473 Member
    This is just crazy to me: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9252311/Obesity-a-derogatory-word-says-Nice.html

    When I stared in 2010, I was quite obese with a BMI of 34. Realizing this was my wake-up call that shocked me out of denial and into living better and being healthier. I don't understand what doing away with the terminology is going to do for any obese person other than continue to feed into their denial about their weight and continue to support a society that is all about avoiding hurt feelings instead of encouraging better living. The term "obese" is a medical term, not a derogatory one.

    Ugh...

    That is just like the sizes in clothing, I have a pair of jeans from before I was married that are size 11/12 28 years ago but when comparing them to a pair of size 6 that my daughter use to wear they are about the same size. Head games are not healthy.

    It is different with clothing...it is not a head game. We discussed "vanity sizing" on another fitness site a while back and someone who worked in the clothing industry and was doing research on the sizing issue corrected us and explained why, for example, a size 4 is bigger than it used to be. Apparently, size 10 represents the average size of the members of a particular clothing line's demographic. As that population gets heavier on average, size 10 grows to fit the new average size for that clothing line, and so do all the other sizes grow proportionately. This also explains why a size 10 (or whatever) sold at Walmart runs larger than a higher end label of the same size...the demographic population for Walmart clothing lines tends to bigger than the demographic population for the high end label. It was a very interesting explanation and made perfect sense.

    It may make sense for the store, but it doesn't make sense for the consumer. Sizing should be based on a standard set of measurements. There are some stores I can't even shop in because their size 14's are the largest size and super tight on me. In other stores, a size 12 is a perfect fit, and these two stores are ext door to each other in the same mall. It's irritating. I've seen sizes range from 12 up to 16W with my measurements (32" waist and 45" hips).

    I agree that it's frustrating, but that's the fashion industry for you. It does explain the differences and why sizes change.
  • MisterTEZ
    MisterTEZ Posts: 272 Member
    I live in the UK and this is just another political correctness gone mad! it's not big news here in fact it's the first I have heard of it! They are asking doctors to avoid using the word 'obese' not to offend patients but by and large patients will only get upset when it dawns on them that they are obese according to their BMI, not that they are offended by the word 'obese'.
    It's a medical term used in the UK as it is worldwide, it's not going to change.
  • kazhowe
    kazhowe Posts: 340 Member
    Removing the word obese would not remove the obesity problem!
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    The problem is that BMI is SUCH a flawed scale. The ranges of 25-30 for overweight and 30+ for obese was decided by the World Health Orginisation. They used no scientific study to determine these ranges. They were just picked out of thin air. Before the mid 90s overweight didn't start until 27ish (different for men and women) When they changed the BMI scale (again with no scientific reasoning) 27 million Americans went from healthy to overweight. With no change in their weight.

    Here's an illustrated example of BMI

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/77367764@N00/sets/72157602199008819

    Now IMO looking at the people who are deemed overweight most of them look healthy, most seem fit and while they could lose weight they don't need to. It's the people who are in the obese category that clearly need to lose weight.

    You also have the fact that people who are considered underweight are facing health risks of the same severity as obese people.

    Ultimately we need a better way to correctly measure healthy weight.
  • StirFriedGiblets
    StirFriedGiblets Posts: 89
    This is just crazy to me: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9252311/Obesity-a-derogatory-word-says-Nice.html

    When I stared in 2010, I was quite obese with a BMI of 34. Realizing this was my wake-up call that shocked me out of denial and into living better and being healthier. I don't understand what doing away with the terminology is going to do for any obese person other than continue to feed into their denial about their weight and continue to support a society that is all about avoiding hurt feelings instead of encouraging better living. The term "obese" is a medical term, not a derogatory one.

    Ugh...

    I got called obese by a medical professional, a nurse, on my regular check-up for contraception. I was 11 stone at the time, 5'2 and had a BMI of 28, sure I definitely needed to lose some weight but I was NOT obese. People throw the word obese around too much sometimes. That comment from the nurse led my self-confidence (which was low anyway) to plummet, 4+ years of feeling horrible about myself, self-harm to my stomach and being so close to the edge that my friends and bf urged me to see a doctor. I did, and now I'm doing CBT but I just wish that nurse had thought properly about what she said to a 16 year old girl before she opened her gob.
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    That's because you had a stupid nurse. Even under the current BMI you were classified as overweight.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    Purely semantics. Perhaps we could use the traffic light system. Green = within range, Orange = overweight, Red = obese/morbidly obese like they show on the charts and they you could just be given your colour rather than the term.


    I favour - Podge-Free, Podgy, Very Podgy ;-)
  • BeautyAndTheGeeks
    BeautyAndTheGeeks Posts: 109
    I can't even begin to explain how much this bothers me right now.
  • StirFriedGiblets
    StirFriedGiblets Posts: 89
    I guess on the plus side I eventually got my butt into gear and I'm now not overweight haha! =)
  • pyrowill
    pyrowill Posts: 1,163 Member
    How f*cking annoying. Personally I think the word obese is one of those power words, like murder, c*nt and Jeremy Kyle. It has a really strong effect on people. And I think considering obese people are a huge risk to themselves then a little tough love is whats needed.
  • Umeboshi
    Umeboshi Posts: 1,637 Member
    That's awesome.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    PC gone awry.

    It's the same kind of wrong headed thinking that results in kids being promoted in school rather than hurting their self-esteem by failing them, oops I mean underperforming. While I agree that it is constructive to avoid using unnecessary pejorative and hurtful terms some words are simple statements of fact using medically correct terminology..
  • SerahLaffere
    SerahLaffere Posts: 223 Member
    I'm small and chubby but in medical terms obese. It does make me feel horrible. And I know I'm not actually obese. otherwise i'd have more than 40lbs to lose. But it did give me a push to wanna lose weight.
  • militarydreams
    militarydreams Posts: 198 Member
    The reason that you all don't find the word offensive is because you're doing something about it. Many people are stuck in a rut and get the word thrown at them a lot, however, as people have said they will just come up with another word that means the same thing and lets face it: it isn't the word that hurts, it's the meaning.

    The only one that I think needs to be changed is MORBIDLY obese... I don't know why but it doesn't sound right. Just something like hyper obesety would be better in my mind
  • BumbyDog
    BumbyDog Posts: 70 Member
    All of this PC nonsense is just getting way out of hand. Next thing you know They will be insisting that everyone refrain from using the word hair so as to not offend the bald.

    PMSL!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for that :D
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
    I think its fantastic that we are removing ' obesity' from the NHS. We would by definition have no more obese people in this country.

    Be good if the royal mint could print a few zillion more £20 notes and give every single household several million of them so we can be the richest and healthiest country in the world after Qatar.
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
    How f*cking annoying. Personally I think the word obese is one of those power words, like murder, c*nt and Jeremy Kyle. It has a really strong effect on people. And I think considering obese people are a huge risk to themselves then a little tough love is whats needed.

    LOL @ ' jeremy Kyle'. that is pretty profound.
  • grassette
    grassette Posts: 976 Member
    Not serving the truth is not serving.
  • BumbyDog
    BumbyDog Posts: 70 Member
    The reason that you all don't find the word offensive is because you're doing something about it. Many people are stuck in a rut and get the word thrown at them a lot, however, as people have said they will just come up with another word that means the same thing and lets face it: it isn't the word that hurts, it's the meaning.

    The only one that I think needs to be changed is MORBIDLY obese... I don't know why but it doesn't sound right. Just something like hyper obesety would be better in my mind

    It's accurately called 'morbidly' obese because of the life threatening health risks it brings. Take the emotion out of it. It's a clinical term full stop. This is the Medline definition for 'Obesity, Morbid'

    "The condition of weighing two, three, or more times the ideal weight, so called because it is associated with many serious and life-threatening disorders. "

    I think some people who are told they are obese and then say "but I'm not obese" actually mean they think they don't look like what they perceive to be obese - like the photos from the op. But, if their BMI is within the parameters of the clinical definition, then yes they are obese.

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