The American Diabetes Association® (ADA) will give an overview of its first-ever Standards of Care for Overweight and Obesity on Friday, June 20, during the 85^th Scientific Sessions. The first two chapters have been released, and the remaining will be published later this year.

“It has taken the medical world a long time to accept that obesity is a chronic disease,” said Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, MBA, MACP, Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. “It was just in 2012 that the American Medical Association (AMA) acknowledged obesity as a chronic disease, so the idea that the ADA is just devising standards of care is unsurprising.”

Dr. Stanford will discuss weight stigma and bias during Standards of Care in Overweight and Obesity 2025 Updates, from 12:45–1:45 p.m. on Friday, in Room W375 A of the McCormick Place Convention Center. She said the reality is that 75% of the U.S. population has excessive body fat, and weight stigma bias is pervasive in medicine.

“Up to 70% of physicians have a weight bias for patients, and the number of nurses is not far behind, 55%,” Dr. Stanford said. “As for other health care professionals, be it dietitians, physical therapists, etc., bias is also prevalent, setting up individual patients for poor health outcomes.”

The better news is that years of research and clinical trials have produced a variety of approaches to weight loss that work. Lifestyle changes, healthy eating, physical exercise, and other familiar adjustments remain the cornerstone of weight loss, but they are not the only approaches.

Louis J. Aronne, MD, FACP, DABOM, the Sanford I. Weill Professor of Metabolic Research at the Weil Cornell Medicine Comprehensive Weight Control Center, will explore the current generation of weight-loss pharmacotherapy.

 “Over the last couple of years, there has been so much attention around the GLP-1 receptor agonists and related medications,” said Kimberly Gudzune, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer for the American Board of Medicine (ABOM) Foundation. “That has brought increased attention to the reality of obesity treatment being possible.”

Treating obesity is not as simple as eating less and moving more, Dr. Gudzune added. Clinicians can draw on a growing evidence base of multiple medications as well as metabolic and bariatric surgery and endoscopic procedures. There is growing evidence around the benefits of lifestyle modification as well as the recognition that changing lifestyle is neither the only option nor the most effective option for all patients.

Provider education remains a major challenge. Relatively little time was devoted to obesity or obesity management during professional education for physicians, nurses, and other health care providers in the years before obesity was recognized as a chronic disease.

Medical training is beginning to focus on obesity treatment, Dr. Gudzune said, but too many practicing clinicians have too little education in obesity. There are about 10,000 physicians who are board-certified in obesity medicine across North America.

“We need to empower health care professionals to begin talking with their patients about obesity,” Dr. Gudzune said. “Even if they are not yet ready to initiate treatment themselves, they should be comfortable with that discussion. To begin that conversation would be an amazing first step.”

On-demand access to recorded presentations will be available to registered participants following the conclusion of the 85^th Scientific Sessions, from June 25–August 25.