Dan Bessison

I'm Dan Bessison. I'm an MD by training. I'm an endocrinologist. I'm here at the University of Colorado in Denver, and I do clinical work taking care of patients at our county hospital, Denver Health, and I do research here at the medical school. I'm also the director of this building called the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center.

I'm Dan Bessison. I'm an MD by training. I'm an endocrinologist. I'm here at the University of Colorado in Denver, and I do clinical work taking care of patients at our county hospital, Denver Health, and I do research here at the medical school. I'm also the director of this building called the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center.

I'm Dan Bessison. I'm an MD by training. I'm an endocrinologist. I'm here at the University of Colorado in Denver, and I do clinical work taking care of patients at our county hospital, Denver Health, and I do research here at the medical school. I'm also the director of this building called the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center.

I think there's always been people with really high weights that doctors thought, well, that's probably a health problem. But I don't think it entered the general public consciousness until sort of the late 80s to the mid 90s.

I think there's always been people with really high weights that doctors thought, well, that's probably a health problem. But I don't think it entered the general public consciousness until sort of the late 80s to the mid 90s.

I think there's always been people with really high weights that doctors thought, well, that's probably a health problem. But I don't think it entered the general public consciousness until sort of the late 80s to the mid 90s.

I think people looked around and thought, what's going on here? There seems to be more and more people at higher weights. And NIH had an expert panel that defined obesity using BMI. BMI is sort of controversial, but that was the point at which we had this accepted standard And shortly after that, the CDC looked at data they had and said, what's been happening with obesity?

I think people looked around and thought, what's going on here? There seems to be more and more people at higher weights. And NIH had an expert panel that defined obesity using BMI. BMI is sort of controversial, but that was the point at which we had this accepted standard And shortly after that, the CDC looked at data they had and said, what's been happening with obesity?

I think people looked around and thought, what's going on here? There seems to be more and more people at higher weights. And NIH had an expert panel that defined obesity using BMI. BMI is sort of controversial, but that was the point at which we had this accepted standard And shortly after that, the CDC looked at data they had and said, what's been happening with obesity?

And I think they were sort of shocked to find there was just a dramatic increase in the number of people with obesity. And so in 1999, They published these maps, these CDC obesity maps. Maybe some people have seen those. And they really brought a lot of attention to what really looked like an epidemic. If you had looked at those numbers and it was HIV or cancer, people would be quite worried.

And I think they were sort of shocked to find there was just a dramatic increase in the number of people with obesity. And so in 1999, They published these maps, these CDC obesity maps. Maybe some people have seen those. And they really brought a lot of attention to what really looked like an epidemic. If you had looked at those numbers and it was HIV or cancer, people would be quite worried.

And I think they were sort of shocked to find there was just a dramatic increase in the number of people with obesity. And so in 1999, They published these maps, these CDC obesity maps. Maybe some people have seen those. And they really brought a lot of attention to what really looked like an epidemic. If you had looked at those numbers and it was HIV or cancer, people would be quite worried.

And people said, gosh, something is happening here. We should do something about this.

And people said, gosh, something is happening here. We should do something about this.

And people said, gosh, something is happening here. We should do something about this.

Yeah, I think that the NIH panel had thought about levels of weight and that treatment or what intervention somebody did should be based on how serious the problem was. So people with a modest increase in their weight might change their diet and increase their physical activity. People with a more severe weight problem might take a medication instead.

Yeah, I think that the NIH panel had thought about levels of weight and that treatment or what intervention somebody did should be based on how serious the problem was. So people with a modest increase in their weight might change their diet and increase their physical activity. People with a more severe weight problem might take a medication instead.

Yeah, I think that the NIH panel had thought about levels of weight and that treatment or what intervention somebody did should be based on how serious the problem was. So people with a modest increase in their weight might change their diet and increase their physical activity. People with a more severe weight problem might take a medication instead.

And those at the highest weight might benefit from surgery. For most Americans, lifestyle is what was suggested. And I think at that point, we were still early in understanding the biologic basis of weight regulation. And we all eat, we all move, and it seems like we choose those things. And so the obvious first step was to say, maybe people just don't know what to eat.

And those at the highest weight might benefit from surgery. For most Americans, lifestyle is what was suggested. And I think at that point, we were still early in understanding the biologic basis of weight regulation. And we all eat, we all move, and it seems like we choose those things. And so the obvious first step was to say, maybe people just don't know what to eat.