May 28, 2021 — It has long been true that health systems delay care for teens with severe obesity. Health plans stall and do their best to avoid paying. Many pediatricians are uncomfortable with the subject. Parents are unsure of what to do and often feel blame for their child’s medical condition. Guilt and blame breed denial and delay. […]
May 16, 2021 — Stroke is generally a problem for older persons. Nonetheless, as much as 15 percent of all strokes happen to people between the ages of 18 and 50. What’s more, incidence is rising for younger people. A new study in Stroke offers good reasons to believe that rising obesity in young persons may account for some […]
April 28, 2021 — Let’s start with a basic fact. More than five million youth and children in the U.S. have severe obesity. This is not about chubby cheeks or appearance. This is about young bodies with biological patterns of fat tissue setting them up for lifetimes of poor health. These are lives that untreated obesity will cut short. […]
April 24, 2021 — “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” said Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. We can point to ways this is true. But if you dig into health disparities, this claim might be harder to support. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) […]
April 8, 2021 — Anecdotal reports have been coming for some time. As early as June, research reports told us COVID-19 was changing the patterns of life for children in ways that could make obesity worse. Then it was speculation. But now, the data is coming in and it really does not look good. A new report in Pediatrics […]
March 27, 2021 — In the new issue of Childhood Obesity, Sarah Armstrong and Ted Kyle tell us the time has come to stop screening for obesity in school. The reason is simple. This screening harms children, but offers them no benefit. Telling a child or the child’s parent they are fat doesn’t help. It does nothing for their […]
March 5, 2021 — Focusing on childhood obesity for Obesity Care Week, we have a basic question are we ready to be helpful? Because truthfully, our record on this subject has been spotty. Way back in 1974, the Lancet told us “we need to be more vigilant in preventing obesity throughout childhood.” But since then, the prevalence of childhood […]
February 8, 2021 — In the popular imagination, obesity is simple. Many people presume that the root cause is obvious. But the presumptions vary. Some like to blame the food industry – for junk food, too much sugar, and predatory marketing. In the UK, where weight bias is common, the NHS is blunt. “Obesity is generally caused by eating […]
February 6, 2021 — For some time now, speculation about the impact of COVID-19 on obesity risk in children has been plentiful. It makes sense. COVID has turned the lives of kids and their parents upside down. On top of that, models suggest childhood obesity rates could go up markedly. However, these were projections and speculation. So we have […]
February 2, 2021 — Not long ago, bariatric surgery for adolescents with severe obesity was a rare consideration. Payers stubbornly resisted paying for it. Even for a 16-year old weighing more than 300 pounds, the very idea seemed “extreme” and off-putting. But now the American Academy of Pediatrics offers clear guidance. Surgery can be safe and effective for a […]
