Weight a Minute! The Importance of Healthy Weight for People with HIV

Weight a minute! We need to talk about this: The importance of maintaining a healthy weight in People Living with HIV Disease (part of a series of articles) In 1998, President Bill Clinton appointed Dr. David Satcher, a distinguished physician and military admiral, as the Surgeon General of the United States. He was the second African-American (after Dr. Louis Sullivan) to serve as the highest ranking physician in public health; an esteemed cabinet position. Dr. Satcher tackled America’s urgent health challenges head on. He identified the two major preventable health risks in the country: obesity and smoking. These conditions are major factors that contribute to the risk of cardiovascular disease (like heart attacks), metabolic diseases (like diabetes), cancers (like lung cancer), pulmonary diseases (like COPD- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and stroke. These diseases were the top killers in the US then, and they continue to be today. But Dr. Satcher was sounding the alarm that the lifestyle factors, especially obesity and smoking, that increase the risk of these diseases are preventable!!! While this topic is of supreme importance to all of us, people living with HIV disease need to listen more intently.  HIV infection by itself can increase the risk...