On World Obesity Day, local doctors educate on growing pandemic, new treatments

World Obesity Day is a time to raise awareness on the growing pandemic affecting millions of children and adults across the world.

Dr. Benjamin Clapp, medical director of the weight loss centers of The Hospitals of Providence says it's about educating people on this disease, its risk factors and stigma.

A recent study from the Journal of the American Medical Association reports about 126 million American adults will obese by 2035.

Clapp says obesity rates are higher in women than men, due to how fat distributes differently in our bodies — Hispanic women and other minority groups are affected most.  

Part of that is due to food deserts, no access to healthy food, socioeconomic disparities, and genetics.

It can even cause other issues like fatty liver, diabetes, high blood pressure and sleep apnea.

Clapp talks about confronting stigma on obesity and recognizing the threat it poses on patients.

"To say that there's a healthy obesity, there's not. So I mean, while we should not stigmatize or ostracize people for their weight or the way they appear, we also have to recognize that it is a disease that is at the root cause of many other diseases," he says.

Bariatric surgery he says is the most common treatment for obesity, but now there's a rise in weight loss semaglutide medications like Ozempic and Wegovy.

Clapp says the GLP-1 has helped the average patient lose 10% of their body weight with the weekly injectable.

He says these medications are very strong and have some side effects that can cause drastic diet changes that can lead to nutrient and protein deficiencies, and muscle mass loss.

While diet and exercise is the first option, the doctor says for obesity, it's almost never successful for his patients by itself. 

"Most of my patients have tried diet, exercise their entire life, and it it fails," says Clapp. "Obesity is a relapsing disease. So, what we need to think about is treating people with everything that we have, a combination therapy, maybe it's medications, obviously diet and exercise. Maybe some patients even going to surgery."

If a patient is thinking about using these medications, they do have to go through the care of a doctor first and get prescribed.