WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop Tuesday urged doctors to view obesity as a dangerous and chronic disease that can be treated with diet, exercise, drugs and even the Internet.
Known for waging war on smoking and tackling a then-controversial public education campaign on AIDS in the 1980s, Koop has turned his attention to the ballooning fat problem through his organization, Shape Up America, which developed new medical guidelines for doctors and is introducing a "cyberclinic" for obese people on the Internet.
In a news conference in Washington outlining guidelines for treating overweight patients, Koop said that doctors have to pay more attention and become more involved in treating obesity, a health hazard that he called "the second leading cause of preventable death" in the United States.
"Physicians can no longer sit on the sidelines as America's obesity epidemic reaches crisis levels," Koop said, urging doctors to stop thinking of weight as a cosmetic concern and start realizing that "physician intervention can actually save lives."
He noted that when he became surgeon general in the 1980s, one out of four Americans was overweight. Now one in three people is obese, a fact which Koop said is "intolerable."
Obesity has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, gall bladder disease, arthritis and certain cancers, including colorectal and prostate cancer for men, and endometrial, cervical, ovarian and breast cancers for women.
For people who are at low to moderate risk, nutrition and exercise are the keys.
For those at higher risk for serious health problems because of obesity, weight control drugs can also be used. In extreme cases surgery may be an option, according to the Shape Up guidelines, that have been reviewed by several medical and public health groups.
To figure out whether an individual is just carrying around a few extra but relatively harmless pounds or whether they are actually obese, Koop urged patients and doctors to rely on the "Body Mass Index."
Though "BMI" may not be widely recognized outside health clubs, it is a fairly simple formula based on height and weight. Koop said doctors should give it as much importance as blood pressure or cholesterol checks.
Simple BMI charts are available to doctors, and will also be seen soon on an Internet web site Shape Up is setting up, www.shapeup.org/sua.
Doctors should intervene when a patient's BMI is 27 -- or lower if the person has other health risks, like hypertension or diabetes.
For someone 6 feet tall, a 27 BMI means being about 200 pounds. For someone who is about 5 foot 5, it means being about 160 to 165 pounds.
The web site will also include an "cyberclinic" where people can figure out their BMI and also click on to a virtual gym, where they can get advice about fitness and an exercise routine as well as background information on nutrition and health.