Childhood Obesity - Do you have an overweight child? We offer tips to help your child lose weight and get fit!

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended that doctors screen children for obesity and give them treatment if they need it.

Treatment would be once or twice a week for at least six months, and include diet, activity and behavior counseling. Just five years ago, the task force said there were few benefits in treating overweight children because most treatment plans do not work. Insurance companies often will not pay for pediatric obesity treatments for the same reason.

However, the Task Forces new guidelines indicate that even slight progress  such as not gaining more weight or losing a few pounds can be extremely beneficial to children.

• For example, just losing two pounds can move a very young child out of the "overweight"category and into "normal."
• About 32 percent of American children are overweight
• About 20 percent of American children are obese.
• The panel did not recommend that doctors prescribe diet drugs to children.
  

This report appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

Labels: government, screening, treatment

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Dr. Thomas Wadden, Ph.D., professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania has been given the George A. Bray Founders Award for his work to fight obesity. He received the award at the 27th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Obesity Society in Washington, D.C.

An Oct. 27 article by Margie King of Examiner.com provided the following information about the professor's award:

Dr. Waddens principal research is on the treatment of obesity by such methods as lifestyle modification, very-low-calorie diets, exercise, medication and surgery. He has also investigated the metabolic and psychosocial consequences of obesity and weight loss, publishing over 220 scientific papers and book chapters.

Dr. Waddens most recent book is Obesity: A Guide for Mental Health Professional, which he co-authored with Albert J. Stunkard and Robert I. Berkowitz. He also serves on the National Institutes of Healths Clinical Obesity Research Program.

Labels: prevention, treatment, award

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Insurance companies can charge obese clients more money and they can deny them coverage, but the majority of companies will not pay for treatments proven to help obesity. These treatments include bariatric surgery, medicine, and nutritional and behavioral counseling, according to a report in the Washington Post.

One major problem is that most doctors do not discuss weight issues with their patients or direct them into treatment programs. One-third of obese patients in a federal study performed by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality never received advice about exercise from their doctors, and one-third of the doctors never even told that they were overweight.

Another major problem in securing insurance coverage for obesity is that the condition is viewed as a moral problem or character flaw rather than an organic disease.

Some of this may change under new federal laws that go into effect in 2010. The new healthcare laws will require preventative medical services, as recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force. These new regulations may make it easier for obese people to gain medical help.

Medicare covers bariatric surgery for the morbidly obese, and many insurance companies may follow suit when the new laws will go into effect.
 

Labels: treatment

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