Metabolic health extends beyond body weight. When the body’s ability to regulate energy, fat, and glucose is disrupted, the consequences can extend across multiple organ systems including the liver, heart, kidneys, and muscles. Hosted by Longwoods and Boehringer Ingelheim Canada, this panel will bring together clinical, lived-experience, community, and health literacy perspectives to examine a more integrated understanding of metabolic health and improve outcomes.  

Panelists will explore why body size and BMI alone provide an incomplete picture of health, how weight bias can affect care, and how earlier identification and more integrated approaches can support prevention, functional health and long-term outcomes. 

Obesity is one of the most common chronic diseases affecting Canadians, yet care remains fragmented, under-measured and difficult to access. Science has advanced, clinical guidance has evolved, and treatment options have expanded. But for many Canadians living with obesity, care continues to be fragmented, difficult to access and inadequately integrated into chronic disease management.

This Leadership Discussion will examine what it will take to move from evidence to implementation, with a particular focus on the importance of primary care as the foundation of chronic disease management.

Drawing on findings from Obesity Canada’s forthcoming State of Obesity Care in Canada report, the discussion will examine key gaps in recognition, measurement, access, provider education and team-based care. It will also connect these findings to Obesity Canada’s Cost of Inaction research, which highlights the significant health system, workforce and economic impact of untreated obesity in Canada.

The conversation will examine how healthcare systems can better support primary care teams to identify, assess and manage obesity as a chronic disease through integrated pathways, team-based care, and improved access to evidence-based treatment. Alberta's evolving primary care landscape, including the Memorandum of Understanding between Obesity Canada and Primary Care Alberta, will provide a practical example of how implementation efforts can be advanced through cross-sector collaboration.

Bringing together health system leadership, clinical expertise, policy perspective and lived experience, this session will focus on a practical question facing healthcare leaders: what will it take to make evidence-based obesity care a part of chronic disease care in Canada?