How To Do A Correct Diagnosis And Assessment of Childhood Obesity by Karin Manning

There has been a lot of public interest and research into health complications attributed to adult obesity in recent times. Nevertheless, the same amount of attention should also be given on issues regarding childhood and adolescent obesity.

There is a common perception that obesity in children is merely a cosmetic problem, with very little or no medical effects. This is a huge misconception largely based on lack of information and guidelines on childhood obesity.

Early assessment and diagnosis of childhood obesity is critically important in order to introduce some preventive measures. Medical approach for obesity in children and in adults are treated differently. This is mainly because children and adolescents are still in the growing stage and a lot of factors should be considered. Aggressive weight management programs are simply not advisable since it is important not to compromise the child's normal development and growth. Intensive deiting may very well prove to be quite disastrous.

Clinical nutrition assessment and diagnosis of childhood obesity generally revolves around the energy balance minus energy intake minus energy output. Unlike adults where energy balance is zero, children require a continuing positive supply and balance of energy to sustain normal growth. Subjective assessment and diagnosis of childhood obesity have proven to be inadequate. This would only result to the possibility of mislabelling non-obese children as obese and vice versa.

It is also highly critical to perform an accurate assessment and diagnosis of childhood obesity to decrease the cardiovascular risks in their early stage. Other health complications such as hyperlipidaemia, high blood pressure, hyperinsulinaemia, and prevalence of Type II Diabetes can prove to be deadly when left untreated. There is also a higher probability that childhood obesity can persist into adulthood that can also affect the child emotionally and socially. Obese children will predictably have very low self-esteem and have the tendency to isolate themselves from other people. Aside from that, obese people are often subjected to discrimation in our society.

This is the harsh reality that obese people have to live with every single day. This could trigger a person to undergo a deep depression and result to ill-health both physically and emotionally.

The growing number of obese people have made this a societal issue, and not merely the burden of the afflicted individual. We are all expected to contribute in hopefully minimizing the incidents of obesity both among children and adults. Early assessment and diagnosis of childhood obesity is still the major key in trimming down the figures. Employing some preventive measures is undoubtedly a more effective treatment.

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