Is Childhood Obesity a National Public Health Emergency?

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 17 2023 (ONLINE): The incident happened years ago, but MaKenna Schmidt, 18, of Otsego, MN, can still recall it in detail. “We were on the bus and this girl said, ‘You look pregnant,’ ” Schmidt remembered. “I was like 8.”

“I was really upset about it. It definitely sticks with me.” She can easily recall other hurtful comments, including a classmate telling her she was fat and another pointing out her stomach was big. “In gym class, we’d have to run the mile. I was always the last. I was very embarrassed.”
Since then, Schmidt has gotten medical help, learned how to eat healthier, and has lost weight. She’s now down 30 pounds, and still trying to lose excess weight.

Today, many other children and teens are likely facing insults similar to those Schmidt remembers. Obesity affects about 14.7 million children and teens, nearly 20% of that age population, according to the CDC. (Children whose weight is at the 95th percentile, compared to other U.S. children of the same age and sex, are classified as obese.) In the U.S., national childhood obesity rates rose from the 1970s into the early 2000s, according to the State of Childhood Obesity, and while the rates have grown more slowly since then, childhood obesity is still a serious public health concern.

While medical experts have viewed the issue as an epidemic and a crisis for years, some are now saying it’s time to focus even more attention on the situation, and to do so earlier rather than later.

• In an opinion piece published recently in the journal Pediatrics, three obesity medicine experts suggest that the U.S. should strongly consider the pros and cons of declaring childhood obesity a public health emergency.

• Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued its first-ever comprehensive guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of children and teens with obesity. It says pediatricians should not follow a “watchful waiting” course, but step in earlier, using options such as newly approved obesity medications when needed. It also stresses that family-based treatment is what works best.