NPR

Doctors Should Send Obese Patients To Diet Counseling, Panel Says. But Many Don't

Behavior-based weight-loss programs that focus on diet and exercise can work for obese patients, a national panel of experts says. But many doctors aren't having the necessary conversations.
If patients are obese, their physicians should refer them to behavior-based weight loss programs or offer their own, a national panel of experts says. Yet many doctors aren't having the necessary conversations with their patients.

A visit to your primary care physician may focus on your headaches or that achy back. But if your body mass index is over 30, a panel of national experts says, it should also include a referral to an intensive weight-loss program.

That's the latest recommendation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of national an evidence review and the recommendation in the on Tuesday.

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