SAN ANTONIO — For the first time in 15 years there are new guidelines in treating childhood obesity.
The new guidelines focus on medication management and recommendations for possible bariatric surgery for obese teens. These are big steps, but if not corrected, experts say childhood obesity could lead to co-morbidities and even liver failure or heart disease.
Dr. Dina Tom, a Pediatric Hospitalist with University Health and Associate Professor of Pediatrics with UT Health San Antonio told us, "These are things I see in the hospital every day in children, even sometimes young children who have these co-morbidities associated with their obesity."
The new guidelines focus on more than just exercise. They also look at ways to improve the child's health depending on things like genetics, where they live, access to healthy foods, and their lifestyle.
"It's not enough to protect obese children from being obese adults with all these co-morbidities and that their their lifestyle is significantly affected by it, whether they die young or have co-morbidities that affect their quality of life long term," Dr. Tom added.
The new guidelines are health behavior and lifestyle treatment, evidence-based treatments with parents included, physician offered medications for adolescents ages 12 and up with obesity with health and lifestyle treatment, and an evaluation for bariatric surgery in teens 13 and older with severe obesity.
According to the CDC obesity affects about 15 million children and teenagers here in the U.S. They say excess weight not only has a drastic affect on physical health, such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, but mental health is affected as well.
"There is an association, possibly with hormone regulation or just with their social interactions, that we see more anxiety, depression, those things that do go along with with obesity and in them fitting in," Dr. Tom said.
Dr. Tom also says it is important to have a conversation with your child's pediatrician about what could be done to improve the health of an obese child and what the cost of any medication or surgery may be.