Here’s an opinion piece in a Swedish morning paper, highlighting the fact that many hospitals have chosen not to offer any help to obese children:
DN Opinion: “Hospital Closes the Door on Obese Children” (Google translated from Swedish).
Prof. Claude Marcus and others are right that it’s terrible that hospitals fail children with serious medical problems. This is not acceptable. But the problem is even greater: The outcome in hospitals treating childhood obesity is woefully bad. Very few children are treated successfully.
In hospitals that do treat obese children, the treatment is usually based on the outdated idea “eat less, run more”. They seriously advise parents to limit their child’s food intake, dismissing the kids from the table still hungry. They’re then advised to try to make the kids run outside, despite not having had enough to eat.
At the same time they ignore study after study showing that children who eat their fill on a low-carb diet will lose more weight.
Because health care workers ignore inconvenient new knowledge, obese children and their parents are given advice that lead to worse outcomes and unnecessary suffering.
Today’s treatment for childhood obesity isn’t just child abuse. It’s family abuse.
Here’s a suggestion that may improve the situation within the health care system: Let go of the old dogmas about low-fat products and the oversimplified advice on energy balance. When childhood obesity treatment works this poorly, it’s time to wake up.
Here’s what might work better: Give the dietary advice that’s been proven best in scientific studies. Shouldn’t this be obvious?
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