As widely reported, the American Medical Association (AMA) board recently voted to classify obesity as a disease. That elevated distinction is intended to spur greater urgency and opportunity for people to get treatment, including the 17 percent of U.S. children who are obese.

The AMA’s Council on Science and Public Health argued that more widespread recognition of obesity as a disease “could result in greater investments by government and the private sector to develop and reimburse obesity treatments.”