# expert reaction to study looking at a new clinical definition versus just BMI in diagnosing obesity

Source: [Science Media Centre](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-study-looking-at-a-new-clinical-definition-versus-just-bmi-in-diagnosing-obesity/) · 2026-11-11 · Science & Society
Page: https://themorning.science/story/expert-reaction-to-study-looking-at-a-new-clinical-definition-versus-just-bmi-in-8b2bd3047a197a78
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- A large international study published in Nature found that a new diagnostic definition of obesity outperforms BMI in identifying differences in health and prognosis, including mortality risk.
- The new framework was proposed in 2025 by the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Commission and goes beyond BMI by incorporating measures such as body fat distribution and organ function.
- The framework distinguishes between clinical and pre-clinical obesity, and Live Science reports that more people could count as obese under the proposed definition.

## Why it matters

Obesity diagnosis drives clinical decisions, so a definition that better predicts health outcomes than BMI could change who is identified as at risk and who receives care.

## Coverage

- [expert reaction to study looking at a new clinical definition versus just BMI in diagnosing obesity](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-study-looking-at-a-new-clinical-definition-versus-just-bmi-in-diagnosing-obesity/) — Science Media Centre, 2026-11-11
- [New clinical definition versus BMI in diagnosing obesity](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/new-clinical-definition-versus-bmi-in-diagnosing-obesity/) — Science Media Centre, 2026-11-11
- [New clinical definition outperforms BMI in diagnosing obesity](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-11-clinical-definition-outperforms-bmi-obesity.html) — Medical Xpress - latest medical and health news stories, 2026-11-11
- [More people could count as obese under newly proposed definition — here's what you need to know](https://www.livescience.com/health/more-people-could-count-as-obese-under-newly-proposed-definition-heres-what-you-need-to-know) — Latest from Live Science in Health, 2026-11-11

Tags: obesity, bmi, clinical-definition, metabolic-health, nature-study

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science