Obesity Surgery in Teens
Just recently I posted on neurological problems that may be common among people who have undergone gastric bypass surgery to lose weight and had mentioned the growth in these types of surgeries in teens. As it so happens, a recent report has just been published on that very topic in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
We have a problem in this country with weight, and although childhood obesity used to be rather rare, today all you have to do is look around you to tell this problem is growing. This is a scary development, but I feel the primary causes are multi-fold; parents no longer cook at home or set a good example for their children, school food choices are generally high in fat and low in whole foods, and physical activity is missing in many kids’ lives. Although there is a push to return physical fitness to the school curriculum, most schools provide no physical exercise during the day at all. When kids come home, they spend the day sitting, doing school work, playing on the computer, or watching TV. In some neighborhoods, it’s not even safe anymore to go play outside.
So, as is so American, the easiest solution is bariatric surgery for our kids! At least the figures cited in the report were moderate, finding that only 0.7% of all surgeries were performed on teenagers. This still represented 771 kids in 2003, though! And the numbers for this year are expected to reach 1,000. It was estimated that 104,702 adults had these surgeries in 2003.
Although the complication rate is much lower in teens than adults, researchers are unclear what the physical and emotional effects are on these children. Therefore, there is currently a five-year study in progress to examine these medical and psychological results of obesity surgery among teens.
Need I say it? We need to get our kids outside, playing and taking part in physical activities. And we also need to set good examples for our kids so they learn how and what to eat. If you have kids at home and you AND your kids are struggling with weight, start taking this problem seriously. Your own child’s future and life may be at stake.
To read the abstract of this study, click here;
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/3/217
We have a problem in this country with weight, and although childhood obesity used to be rather rare, today all you have to do is look around you to tell this problem is growing. This is a scary development, but I feel the primary causes are multi-fold; parents no longer cook at home or set a good example for their children, school food choices are generally high in fat and low in whole foods, and physical activity is missing in many kids’ lives. Although there is a push to return physical fitness to the school curriculum, most schools provide no physical exercise during the day at all. When kids come home, they spend the day sitting, doing school work, playing on the computer, or watching TV. In some neighborhoods, it’s not even safe anymore to go play outside.
So, as is so American, the easiest solution is bariatric surgery for our kids! At least the figures cited in the report were moderate, finding that only 0.7% of all surgeries were performed on teenagers. This still represented 771 kids in 2003, though! And the numbers for this year are expected to reach 1,000. It was estimated that 104,702 adults had these surgeries in 2003.
Although the complication rate is much lower in teens than adults, researchers are unclear what the physical and emotional effects are on these children. Therefore, there is currently a five-year study in progress to examine these medical and psychological results of obesity surgery among teens.
Need I say it? We need to get our kids outside, playing and taking part in physical activities. And we also need to set good examples for our kids so they learn how and what to eat. If you have kids at home and you AND your kids are struggling with weight, start taking this problem seriously. Your own child’s future and life may be at stake.
To read the abstract of this study, click here;
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/3/217
posted by Margie Geiser, MBA, RD, NSCA-CPT at
3:20 AM
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