The number of children with severe obesity continues to increase in the United States. An observation that alarms American doctors.
If the number of moderate obesity begins to decrease in children, that of severe obesity, that is to say when the person has a body mass index greater than 35 kg per m2, continue to increase in the United States. American specialists estimate that 5% of children and adolescents are affected by this form of obesity.
Faced with this observation, the scientific council of the American Heart Association (AHA), an American public health association, recognized that practitioners were poor enough to treat these obese young people. “Between methods for changing eating and physical behaviors, drug strategies, and weight loss surgery, there is too much of a gap, and effective treatment options are limited,” said Dr. Aaron Kelly of the University of Canada. Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.
In a paper published in Circulation, the AHA review, they admit that “even very intensive lifestyle interventions leave children still significantly obese, even though their metabolic and cardiovascular profiles have been modestly improved.” The authors agree that innovative alternatives must be developed, in particular for children who are too young for surgery but who present with severe obesity and serious comorbidities. Remember that one of the main risks for these children is to develop cardiovascular disease.
The authors of the paper also indicate that it is important to identify the origin of childhood obesity. There could be environmental factors that play a role, genetic factors or behavioral factors.
An approach that joins that developed in France by Prof. Patrick Tounian, head of one of the reference centers for the medical treatment of obesity at the Trousseau hospital in Paris. “While the recommendations to cut calories and increase physical activity are simple on paper, it’s actually much more complicated. It is indeed a question of fighting against a programmed weight but above all against hunger. ”
In 2008, the pediatrician and nutritionist published a book on childhood obesity entitled “On the wrong track”. “The image of the fat slacker, sitting on a sofa, eating crisps in front of the television is wrong,” he explained. Obesity is a constitutional disease, not a behavioral disease. In consultation, we seek above all to make the child feel guilty, laughed at by his comrades, convinced that it is his fault if he is fat when it is an injustice of nature! “
.
