Obesity has traditionally been classified using body mass index, a measure of weight relative to height that provides limited information about whether excess fat is actually affecting a person's health. The metric has historically served as the primary factor in determining who qualifies for metabolic bariatric surgery, operations on the stomach designed to help people lose weight and treat conditions such as type 2 diabetes.
Newer definitions of obesity are now offering a more accurate assessment of health risk than BMI alone.
