Medication Can Help Reduce Childhood Obesity

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Recommended: Implications of childhood obesity in the United States

There was a time when chubby children were considered cute. It was assumed that their baby

fat would melt away and a healthy adult would remain. We now know that childhood

obesity can be very harmful for our nations children. Not only can obesity cause health problems

but also psychological problems. In recent years, policymakers and medical experts have

expressed alarm about the growing problem of childhood obesity in the United States. While

most agree that the issue deserves attention, consensus dissolves around how to respond to

the problem. One literature review examines one approach to treating childhood obesity: medication can hopefully we can slow down the epidemic.

In March 2004, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona called attention to a health problem in the United States that, until recently, has been overlooked: childhood obesity. Carmona said that the “astounding” 15% child obesity rate constitutes an “epidemic.” Since the early 1980s, that rate has “doubled in children and tripled in adolescents.” Now more than nine million children are classified as obese. While the traditional response to a medical epidemic is to hunt for a vaccine or a cure-all pill, childhood obesity has proven more elusive. The lack of success of recent initiatives suggests that medication might not be the answer for the escalating problem. This argument considers whether the use of medication is a promising approach for solving the childhood obesity problem by responding to the following questions:

1. What are the implications of childhood obesity?

2. Is medication effective at treating childhood obesity?

3. Is medication safe for children?

4. Is medication the best solution?

Understan...

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...itical change.

References:

American Journal of Preventive Medicine: Contact the editorial office at

(858) 534-9340 or eAJPM@ucsd.edu.

Carmona, R. H. (2004, March 2). The growing epidemic of

childhood obesity. Testimony before the Subcommittee on

Competition, Foreign Commerce, and Infrastructure of

the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and

Transportation. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/asl

/testify/t040302. Html

Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (2004, February). The role

of media in childhood obesity. Retrieved from http://www

.kff.org/entmedia/7030.cfm

Roche Laboratories. (2003, December). Xenical (orlistat)

capsules: Complete product information. Retrieved from

Yanovski, S. Z., & Yanovski, J. A. (2002). Drug therapy: Obesity.

The New England Journal of Medicine, 346, 591-602

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