New research says obesity needs to be measured on levels of body fat, in addition to body mass index

The Global Commission on Clinical Obesity also recommends recognising two categories of obesity.

Clinical obesity would be used for cases where excess body fat is negatively affecting body functions, while pre-obesity is where a patient has excess fat but it's not having consequences yet.

Endocrinologist Rinki Murphy says BMI will still need to be used for population data.

She says it's required for monitoring, while the two categories can be used on an individual level.