The Federal Drug and Food Administration (FDA), in implementing the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, provides a broad definition for "disease or health-related condition" but does not define a disease by itself.
Despite the lack of a universally accepted definition of a disease, several government and international entites have stated obesity is a disease. The FDA in its Jan. 6, 1999 "Regulations on Statements Made for Dietary Supplements Concerning the Effect of the Product on the Structure or Function of the Body; Final Rule," wrote that
the FDA "agrees... that obesity is a disease.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a policy in 2002 stating that "obesity is medically accepted to be a disease in its own right." This policy allows Americans to claim tax deductions for doctor prescribed treatments, "special food," and weight loss programs for those who are medically diagnosed as obese.
The National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute wrote, "Obesity is a complex multifactorial chronic disease," in its Sep. 1998 publication "Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults."
The World Health Organization (WHO) called obesity a "chronic disease" in its 2000 report "Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic."
The American College of Gastroenterology, in its 2008 briefing paper on obesity for gastrointestinal specialists, "Obesity: A Growing & Dangerous Public Health Challenge," stated that obesity is a "chronic, debilitating and potentially fatal disease."
Other entities have taken a less clear stance on whether or not obesity is a disease. A change in Medicare coverage policy on Oct. 1, 2004 removed the language "obesity itself cannot be considered an illness" from its "National Coverage Determinations Manual (NCDM)," allowing obesity-related medical treatments to be covered under Medicare. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has not classified obesity as a disease.
Similarly, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College of Physicians (ACP), and American Nurses Association (ANA) do not have policy statements stating whether or not obesity is a disease, as of Dec, 17, 2009. On June 18, 2013, the American Medical Association (AMA) approved a resolution to recognize obesity as a disease "with multiple pathophysiological aspects requiring a range of interventions to advance obesity treatment and prevention."
In the health care bill H.R. 3962 approved by the House of Representatives on Oct. 29, 2009, "being overweight or obese" is not classified as a disease but as a "behavioral risk factor" along with alcohol and drug use, tobacco, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and risky sex.
With a lack of clear consensus among government entities and medical associations on whether or not obesity is a disease, advocate groups continue to lobby for and against classifying obesity as a disease. Proponents stress that declaring obesity is a disease would remove the social stigma associated with obesity, afford it the same legal protections as other illnesses, and force medical professionals, insurers, and employers to treat it with the same degree of concern given other diseases.
Opponents argue that classifying obesity as a disease would scare overweight or obese people who are healthy into seeking unnecessary medical treatments, divert public funds to treat a preventable condition, and be discriminatory towards people who choose a different body type. They say that categorizing obesity as a disease would not address the underlying problems causing it, such as poverty, the prevalence of unhealthy processed foods, lack of public policies encouraging exercise, and other environmental factors.
