Medicine and surgery are not the answer for overweight children, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
“Bariatric surgery may be considered under strict conditions for adolescents with severe obesity. “For adolescents aged 10-19 years, treatment with approved medicines may be considered only when a supervised multimodal lifestyle programme has not achieved the desired results. Maria Nieves Garcia Casal, a scientist in the WHO’s nutrition and food safety department, told reporters that bariatric surgery may be considered during adolescence for cases of severe obesity accompanied by complications such as type 2 diabetes or hypertension — if diet and lifestyle changes have failed.
“WHO does not recommend pharmacological treatment, bariatric surgery (surgery that changes the stomach or digestive tract) or weight-loss devices for children aged 0-9 years,” it said. The WHO said the range of weight-loss and diabetes drugs could be used for tackling obesity — in adults. “The rise of obesity is observed everywhere in all regions,” said Luz Maria De Regil, director of the WHO’s nutrition and food safety department. “The foundation of obesity care for children and adolescents is not medicine or surgery, but access to comprehensive support that enables healthy eating, physical activity and sustainable behaviour change,” she said.
