CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Obesity in the U.S., especially here in the Mountain State is a growing yet troubling trend.
That’s the concern of Dr. Robert Shin, Director of the Weight Loss clinic at Charleston Area Medical Center.
Dr. Robert Shin
However, he is certainly not alone in this concern as recently CAMC doctors and dieticians came together for a one-day seminar, Beyond the Scale– A Comprehensive Approach to Obesity, where they addressed the issue in depth as well as presented solutions to alleviate the situation.
Shin said research continues to reveal the problem is only growing.
“When we look at some of the data, especially the CDC, it hasn’t gotten any better,” Shin said. “In West Virginia, more than 40-percent of people are obese, and we’re talking about number one, number two in the country, and that number hasn’t gotten better for the last three decades.”
At the conference, doctors presented everything from the current surgical procedures and medications to treat obesity, to the biological and even psychological factors that equate into it as well.
Shin said it’s important to examine obesity as a disease process, because more and more doctors are realizing that there is a significant mental and psychological aspect behind obesity, and there are correlating factors in the way obese people think, feel, and behave that leads to the issue.
He said many only approach weight loss as just being the actual physical activity of losing the weight itself, but it actually goes way beyond that, making it necessary to adjust that thinking and those behaviors in order to find real success in the weight loss journey.
“With all of this stress of day-to-day life and temptations, and over work, prevalence of depression, eating disorders, there are many, many factors involved with the consumption of the calories and how people take care of their calorie expenditure, as well as their attitude and their commitment to become a healthier person,” he said.
Shin went on to say that child obesity is also on the rise, with nearly 40% in West Virginia.
He said one of the most troubling concerns with this is that it creates even more issues for children later on in their lives.
Shin said there are a number of reasons why child obesity is getting worse.
“Genetics, environment, as well as lack of activity, especially in school, those kids are playing with their phones and games all of the time, and then availability with the chips and cookies and quick, easy foods, there’s multifactorial issues involved in there,” Shin said.
However, while obesity is an increasing issue, the treatments for it are also expanding.
Shin said they also reviewed how bariatric surgery is improving at the seminar, as well as medications such as Wegovy and Ozempic.
“Those medications have really made a huge impact in taking care of patients,” he said. “Studies show that people with as much as 20, 30-percent body weight lost weight in a very significant way.”
He said the issue with the medication they did address also however, is how they can make it more accessible.
Currently, Shin said many medical insurance providers do not cover the cost of them unless the patients are truly diabetic.
Shin said while doctors are realizing there isn’t one overarching reason or solution to obesity, more education behind it a good start.
“Many still think that obesity is a patient’s problem, that they choose the wrong things that they choose to eat, part yes, but it’s not the whole story,” said Shin.
He said in their program at CAMC, they now have a pediatrician addressing the issue with children and obesity, not just through providing treatments and medications, but also working with the kids and their parents in making healthier eating more accessible and fun for them.
Shin said as a whole, they are taking a more multifaceted approach to addressing the issue so that obese patients can have a better outcome overall.