Health care is undergoing a major paradigm shift. Some clinicians are shifting away from treating chronic conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, back pain and fatigue — long the bread and butter of primary-care medicine — and toward targeting their common root cause: obesity.

Proponents of this “obesity first” movement point to decades of research that tie obesity with more than 200 other health conditions, including heart failure, premature death and 13 types of cancer. Nearly 9 out of 10 people with Type 2 diabetes — itself a major risk factor for adverse health outcomes — have obesity or are overweight.

Scientists have long known that when obesity is successfully treated, many other ailments improve or disappear altogether. But until recently, weight-loss treatments were limited. Many patients did not experience appreciable change with diet and lifestyle modifications alone, and other options, such as bariatric surgery, were seen as dramatic steps. As a result, physicians had little choice but to address the complications of obesity rather than the disease itself.

The rise of GLP-1 medications such as semaglutide (under brand names Wegovy and Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Zepbound and Mounjaro) has made it possible to change focus. These therapies........

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