Dear friends and supporters of Obesity Canada, It has been an incredible four months since I assumed the role of Scientific Director of Obesity Canada, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share with you some of the remarkable achievements and the vision for the future. It’s been an inspiring journey, and I want to express my deep gratitude for the commitment and dedication of our team and partners across the country. Here are my initial reflections from the last few months… A  United Effort to Advance Lives of People Living with Obesity: At Obesity Canada, our mission is clear ..read more

The goal of the International Obesity Collation (IOC) is to bring our individual organizations together to identify how we can work together to improve access to obesity care and decrease the stigma and bias faced by persons living with obesity. One of the first actions that this group has done is to create consensus statements that we all helped to create. It is our belief that having an agreed upon and standard starting point that we are all using for discussing obesity will strengthen our messaging by creating a consistent narrative. The post Consensus Statement: Obesity Care vs. Weigh ..read more

The goal of the International Obesity Collation (IOC) is to bring our individual organizations together to identify how we can work together to improve access to obesity care and decrease the stigma and bias faced by persons living with obesity. One of the first actions that this group has done is to create consensus statements that we all helped to create. It is our belief that having an agreed upon and standard starting point that we are all using for discussing obesity will strengthen our messaging by creating a consistent narrative. The post Consensus Statement: Body Mass Index (BMI ..read more

Obesity Canada’s Education Action Team has been working diligently and has recently published a robust obesity education competency set. Below is the abstract for the paper. Background With ongoing gaps in obesity education delivery for health professions in Canada and around the world, a transformative shift is needed to address and mitigate weight bias and stigma, and foster evidence-based approaches to obesity assessment and care in the clinical setting. Obesity Canada has created evidence-based obesity competencies for medical education that can guide curriculum development, assessment ..read more

Photo: (Left to right) Laurent Biertho, Judy Shiau,Sanjeev Sockalingam, Dayna Lee-Bagley, Michael Hawkins, Ximena Ramos-Salas, Mary Forhan (Missing: Stephen Glazer and Melanie Henderson) The recent Vascular Day sessions hosted by Obesity Canada brought to light the critical relationship between obesity and vascular health. The event served as a vital platform for professionals to delve into the intricate connections, discuss breakthroughs, and address the complex interplay between obesity across the lifespan, obesity and cardiovascular disease and obesity and mental health. The sessions were ..read more

The Education Action Team has been working towards creating the Canadian Obesity Education Competencies. Below is an abbreviated abstract. Full abstract and link to publication will be posted when it becomes available. Background/Purpose:  With ongoing gaps in obesity education delivery in Canada, a transformative shift is needed to address and mitigate weight bias and stigma, and foster evidence-based approaches to obesity assessment and care in the clinical setting. Obesity Canada has created evidence-based obesity competencies for medical education that can guide curriculum developmen ..read more

Obesity Canada and Hypertension Canada are pleased to invite you to our upcoming conference: Obesity and Hypertension in Canada: From Science to Solutions in Banff Alberta on April 3-6, 2024. This conference truly will be an integrated program with broad topics of conditions intersecting with obesity and/or hypertension. We invite all healthcare professionals, researchers, trainees, policy makers, and new professionals to attend. There will be programming specific to healthcare professionals with accredited training for clinicians to gain real world, practical tools to integrate into their pr ..read more

Photo: Obesity Canada booth at 2022 Obesity Week Are you attending Obesity Week in Dallas for Obesity Week October 14-17, 2023 Obesity Canada will be on be hand for Obesity Week, a major scientific conference hosted by The Obesity Society. With around 5,000 delegates, it is one of the largest gatherings of obesity experts, researchers and health practitioners sharing information and learning from one another.   Come meet the Canadians at the Obesity Canada booth in the exhibit hall. We are raising awareness of our many initiatives and are promoting our own interactive symposium: Tu ..read more

We are delighted to share the results of our review on the international pilot project to adapt the Canadian Adult Clinical Practice Guideline. Below is the abstract. Background The evidence-based Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) released in August 2020 were developed through a systematic literature review and patient-oriented research process. This CPG is considered a paradigm shift for obesity care as it introduced a new obesity definition that is based on health not body size, incorporates lived experiences of people affected by obesity, and addresses the ..read more

Obesity Canada’s Community Action Team has been working diligently and has recently published a cross-sectional study in Obesity Pillars. Below is the abstract for the paper. Background Approximately 15% of Canadian adults live with two or more chronic diseases, many of which are obesity related. The degree to which Canadian obesity treatment guidelines are integrated into chronic disease management is unknown. Methods We conducted a 12-min online survey among a non-probability sample of 2506 adult Canadians who met at least one of the following criteria: 1) BMI ≥30 kg/m2; 2) medical diagno ..read more