If we want to support people with obesity, the weight loss debate must stop conflating obesity prevention with obesity treatment. Instead, we should focus on the tools that best solve the needs of people where they are – just as we would for cancer or diabetes – by making the most effective treatments possible available.

Prevention is critical, and the ideas put forth in the White House’s proposal will likely help many Americans—particularly children—avoid weight gain as well as the downstream effects of obesity and its comorbidities. But more than 42% of U.S. adults already have obesity, and they need help now.