Fat kid, what's a less stressful weight loss?
Feb 28, 2025
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As such, childhood obesity due to poor eating habits and lack of physical activity is actually steadily increasing.
According to the 「2023 Obesity Fact Sheet」 published by the Korean Society of Obesity, the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents has been steadily increasing over the past decade. Compared to 2012, the prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity increased by approximately 2.5 times (10.4% → 25.9%) in boys and by approximately 1.4 times (8.8% → 12.3%) in girls.
The reason why childhood obesity is important is that if obesity is not properly managed in childhood, it is highly likely to lead to obesity even in adulthood.
In fact, obese children are known to have a five-fold higher risk of adult obesity than normal-weight children.
The problem is not just weight gain. Obese children also have an increased risk of complications such as high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, steatohepatitis, and cardiovascular disease. Professor Ryu In-hyuk of the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescents at the Catholic University of Korea's Seoul St. Mary's Hospital said, `Recently, these diseases appear before adulthood, that is, from adolescence. Now, childhood obesity should be recognized as an important health problem that must be actively managed from now on, not as a problem that will be passed on as `it will be okay later on.'," he stressed.
So how do we check if our child is obese?
To accurately assess obesity, checking height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) is fundamental.
Based on the '2017 Child and Adolescent Growth Chart' presented by the Korean Academy of Pediatrics, overweight and obese children are defined as ▲ under 2 years of age: overweight if the body mass index (BMI) by height is above 95 percentile ▲ over 2 years of age: overweight if the body mass index (BMI) by age is 85 to 95 percentile, and obesity ▲ high obesity: If the BMI is above 120% of the 95 percentile, it is defined as high obesity.
Professor Ryu In-hyuk said "If you are obese, especially highly obese, you must undergo professional evaluation and management at the hospital."
The second most important indicator is abdominal circumference.
If a lot of fat builds up in the abdomen, the risk of metabolic syndrome increases and problems such as blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipid abnormalities increase. In particular, even if the BMI is not high, the risk of obesity-related complications can be significantly increased in cases of high abdominal fat. Care should be taken if the abdominal circumference is above the 70th percentile, and active management is recommended if it is above the 95th percentile.
Professor Ryu In-hyuk said, `If a child's height and weight are measured and it falls within the obesity range, the first thing a guardian should do is to check for complications through hospital treatment," he stressed.
Obesity-related complications such as high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, steatohepatitis, and obstructive sleep apnea were previously considered to be diseases that only appeared in adults. Recently, however, many children with childhood obesity after the age of 10 have complications of such adult diseases. In particular, if you have severe abdominal obesity or a family history (if your parents have obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.), you have a higher risk of complications. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to accurately grasp the child's current health status through systematic examinations in hospitals, rather than simply thinking 'It will be okay to lose weight'.
Diet medication is not a priority option in childhood and adolescent obesity, even if it is accompanied by complications along with obesity.
Professor Ryu In-hyuk said, `The key to treatment is to improve eating habits and lifestyle properly rather than overweight, especially for growing children. However, if you are 12 years of age or older and have serious obesity-related complications, you can consider drugs that suppress fat absorption, and recently, some GLP-1 injections such as 'Saxenda' are also prescribed," he said.
So far, 'Wigobi' has not been approved for children and adolescents in Korea, and it is expected to be approved by next year. After all, what is more important than medication is to steadily improve your eating and exercise habits.
Professor Ryu In-hyuk said "In fact, if you experience it at the clinic, children are not motivated well simply by 'You have to lose weight'. However, if you show objective data such as body composition test results and blood pressure and blood sugar levels directly, and explain why management is necessary, more children often accept changes on their own than expected. When setting the target weight, you have to go in the direction of making changes little by little rather than too big a goal so that the child can continue to work under less stress.'
In conclusion, if a child meets the criteria for obesity, he should not think that 'If he grows up, he will be fine'.
Professor Ryu In-hyuk said "If childhood obesity is missed, it becomes more and more difficult to manage, and it is very likely to lead to adult obesity and adult disease. Having good eating habits and lifestyle habits from an early age will eventually be the best gift for a child's lifelong health."
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
