childhood obesity
Childhood obesity has reached record rates.
According to the CDC, almost 20% of children and teens ages 2 to 19 in the U.S. are obese. That’s about 14.7 million children.
For the first time in 15 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its guidelines on treating childhood obesity, recommending early and intensive treatment – including medications and weight loss surgery for some young patients.
Children who are obese are at higher risk for developing health conditions, including heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, and mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression.
The new guidance, moves away from the “watchful waiting” approach. Instead, the guidelines say that, in some cases, doctors should consider prescribing weight-loss medications to patients as young as 12. Teens as young as 13 who are severely obese – having a body mass index above the 95th percentile – should be evaluated for weight-loss surgery, according to the guidelines.
Those approaches, though, are reserved for situations where other, less invasive treatments have already been tried and failed to get results.
The guidelines include encouraging parents and children to eat a healthy diet and be active and eat a healthy diet. But they also recommend intensive behavioral and lifestyle interventions.
The AAP also acknowledges that childhood obesity is a disease with genetic, social and environmental factors, and that it’s important not to stigmatize children but instead empower them with the tools they need to lose weight and stay healthy.
“Studies show that overweight adolescents grow up to be obese adults. Like any disease, the earlier you treat it, the better the results,” said Dr. George Eid, chair of Allegheny Health Network’s Bariatric and Metabolic Institute. “I applaud the AAP bringing attention to this issue. We really have to stop the stigma that this is something children and adolescents should be ashamed about; we need to give them help and don’t let them suffer for the rest of their lives. Obesity is very complex and multi-faceted. You have to tackle it from different angles, including education.”
For the first time, the AAP is recommending pediatricians and other clinical providers start obesity evaluation and treatment for children at age 2.
Children 6 years and older can receive monthly behavioral therapy to help them make long-lasting health changes, and teens may be eligible for weight loss medications, along with continued diet and exercise.
Eid said the guidance – based on intensive research – is a major shift that was overdue.
“For the longest time there was no research in the field (of childhood obesity), but over the last five or 10 years, this is slowly and surely changing,” said Eid. “Obesity has been neglected. It was dismissed as children having poor willpower and being to to exercise and they’d be fine.”
He said the guidelines come at a time when new treatments for obesity in children have become available for use in children ages 12 and older.
Eid said he is passionate about helping people battling obesity.
“I’m always taken aback and appalled because we shame people when we should help them,” he said.
He recalled a patient who was 16 years old and weighed nearly 300 pounds when he met her. She was doing poorly in school, was sullen, and has low self-esteem.
Eid performed bariatric surgery, and a year later she had lost 100 pounds.
But it wasn’t her physical appearance that struck Eid, it was her improved self-esteem and positive outlook.
“I was in the presence of a whole new individual. She had a plan for the future, she was doing well and school, she had a boyfriend,” said Eid. “You need to give people hope, and that’s one of the things that makes me happy about what I do. We changed her life.”