What the new obesity guidelines will tell us

The purpose of the review is to update the reader on the long anticipated Obesity 2, the second iteration of 'Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: the Evidence Report'.

Obesity 2 maintains a focus on primary care practitioners and their patients in an effort to reduce cardiovascular risk. Just as Obesity 1 limited the literature review to the years 1980-1997, Obesity 2 limits the literature under consideration from 1999 to 2011. However, because of the painstaking methodology employed, the scope of the Obesity 2 is of necessity more limited with five critical questions. These deal with risks of overweight and obesity, benefits of weight loss and evaluate three treatment areas - diet, behavioral therapies and surgical therapies. The critical questions inform recommendations in these same areas.

Although not comprehensive in scope, the guidance offered in Obesity 2 is backed by stringent approaches to limit bias and assuring rigor, thus producing recommendations one can trust in the areas covered.