“Weight of the Invisible,” Lilly’s initiative to make obesity and its complications visible.

Lilly introduced ‘The Weight of the Invisible‘, a campaign aimed at making visible the reality of obesity, a disease characterized by the accumulation of dysfunctional fat tissue.^1.2 which is associated with more than 200 complications³such as type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, cancer, hypertension or depression, and others.

According to the definition of the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity (SEEDO).¹Obesity is a complex, multifactorial, chronic and relapsing disease, and for most people with obesity, changing habits and lifestyle are often not enough to achieve positive impacts on long-term health.⁴.

‘The Weight of the Invisible‘ aims to raise awareness of this situation, which needs to be monitored and treated clinically like other health conditions, and to promote the cessation of prejudice and discrimination⁵ that obese people live with, both in social, work and health care settings.

Obesity is the main cause of many diseases

Numerous factors intervene in the development of obesity: genetics, age, gender, ethnicity, education, economic level, sedentary lifestyle, stress, sleep disorders, urban and socio-political environment, etc.^2.6 All of these can contribute to weight gain, they affect each person differently, and many of them are beyond our control.

It is therefore important to recognize that obesityas a chronic disease based on obesity, is the basis of many diseasesso it is necessary to prevent its occurrence, as well as to comprehensively combat it with effective long-term, evidence-based medical care once it has occurred. All this can help improve the health of people with obesity, improve and avoid complications associated with it, improve their quality of life, and even affect their survival or costs associated with the disease.

For example, weight loss equal to or greater than 15% is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality and with benefits in complications associated with excess weight, such as liver disease or heart failure.^7.8

Lilly advocates that people with obesity deserve access to comprehensive health care, including, depending on each patient’s needs, lifestyle interventions such as nutrition, exercise and behavioral therapy, anti-obesity medications and bariatric surgery.

Innovation, opportunity

Therapeutic innovation is an important tool for improving public health. In fact, the scientific community recognizes that obesity is a heterogeneous disease that requires continuous improvement of anti-obesity medications to meet the unique needs of people living with the disease. Thus, new advances in anti-obesity medications make it possible to achieve a significant level of sustainable weight loss people with obesity.

According to Medical Director of Obesity and Diabetes, Dr. Miriam Rubio de Santos: «At Lilly, we are deeply committed to patients and their well-being. We work hard every day to provide the tools and support needed to comprehensively combat obesity. In this sense, advancing innovation in the treatment and management of obesity is key to raising public awareness of the complications associated with this disease.“.

To disseminate the physiological basis of obesity.

Lilly put available to patients and specialists If you (www.elpesodeloinvisible.es) which includes background information and support resources for patients about obesity, its underlying causes and consequences.

‘The Weight of the Invisible” is also active in various cities in Spain with the campaign image: a blurred clothing label on which icons related to obesity-related complications such as diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease appear. This label is displayed on a red background with the slogan “Obesity is beyond size, it is not a choice. Understanding obesity promotes health“, with the aim of going beyond appearance and avoiding the guilt that comes with value judgments about people living with obesity.

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¹ Lecub A, Monereo S, Rubio Ma, et al. Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of obesity. Position statement of the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity 2016. Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of obesity. Position statement of the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity 2016. Endocrinol Diabetes Nutr. 2017;64 Suppl 1:15–22. doi:10.1016/j.endonu.2016.07.002

² Lecoub A., Azriel S., Barreiro E., Blay G., Carretero J., Sudin A., Fernandez J.M., Flores L., de Hollanda A., Martinez E., Miñambres I., Moise V., Morales C., Ramirez V., Salvador J., Soler M.J., Supervia M., Valenti V., Vicente G., Vilarraza N., Malagon M.M. “The Spanish GIRO Guide: a Spanish handbook for the comprehensive and multidisciplinary treatment of obesity in adults, 2024. https://www.seedo.es/index.php/guia-giro. Last accessed: July 2024.

³ Wilding, JP, Jacob, S. Cardiovascular outcome research in obesity: a review. Obes Rev 2021;22(1):e13112.

⁴ Hall KD, Kahan S. Weight loss maintenance and long-term treatment of obesity. Med Clin North Am. 2018; 102 (1): 183-197. doi:10.1016/j.mcna.2017.08.012

⁵ Poole, R. M., et al. Obesity stigma: important public health considerations. Am J Public Health 2010, 100, 1019–1028.

⁶ Ross R, et al. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2020;16(3):177–189; Choi SS, et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2016;7:30.

⁷ Sundstrom J, et al. Weight loss and heart failure: a nationwide trial of gastric bypass surgery versus intensive lifestyle treatment. Circulation. 2017;135(17):1577–1585.

⁸ Ryan DH et al. Weight loss and improvement in comorbidities: differences of 5%, 10%, 15%, or more. Carr Obes Rep. 2017;6(2):187-194