Alarming rise in childhood obesity troubling: Doctors

A war which has been damaging populations and that needs to be addressed by way of taking an earnest public-private partnership (PPP) stance on the environments society operates in, is obesity.

- Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Despite having the “World Obesity Day” every March 4 since 12 years back, the problem remains unabated, based on the 2022 Global Obesity Observatory, the most recent collated data from 200 nations. Meanwhile, as according to University of Catania (Sicily, Italy) Internal Medicine Professor Riccardo Polosa, “currently around 3.5 billion worldwide are overweight and obese,” NMC Royal Hospital Sharjah Endocrinology consultant Dr. Kishan Delampady, who defined obesity as “not simply about overeating or the lack of willpower,” said that what “worries” him “most, and should worry all of us, is what we are seeing in children.”

“The alarming rise in childhood obesity, in high-income countries is particularly troubling,” continued Delampady.

Dubai Prime Hospital Endocrinology consultant Dr. Anil Kumar Narayaswamy said: “Obesity is now classified as a chronic disease, not a lifestyle condition.”

They all said the multifactorial causes are genetic, physical, psychological, emotional, social, and hormonal factors.

Diabetologist Narayaswamy added: “The more pressing issue is increasing obesity rates amongst younger age groups now, adolescents and young adults.”