The most serious consequences of overweight in children and adolescents They do not usually appear immediately, but will do so in the future. The point is that this future is not too distant, but it usually arrives when they are still very young, just past adolescence, as he explains to us. Dr. Alfredo Alonso Poza, head of the General Surgery and Digestive System Service at the Hospital Universitario del Sureste in Madrid and surgeon at the Quirón San Camilo Hospital in Madrid.
“In the short term they may have a insulin resistance “which will not manifest itself except in extreme cases, that is, in body mass indexes greater than 40 or when we would call an obese child someone who has a weight percentile greater than 95%.” Except for these more extreme situations, in which the consequences can occur even in childhood or adolescence, overweight children and adolescents They will generally develop “future type two diabetes that will manifest at an early age, after adolescence.”
Furthermore, these children “what they are going to suffer is a greater predisposition to cardiovascular diseasesa greater predisposition to have a polycystic ovary syndromea greater predisposition to hirsutismthat is, excessive hair growth, a greater predisposition to have high blood pressure early and also a greater propensity to have blood hypercholesterolemia and, therefore, all the diseases associated and linked to these disorders,” warns Dr. Alfredo Alonso Poza.
The specialist emphasizes other consequences that may be suffered, with greater probability, overweight minors already in childhood or adolescence and it is a certain social discriminationwhich will lead to low self-esteem. “These are children who, deep down, are stressed and children who, by suffering this discriminationthey retreat, they take refuge even more in themselves and, therefore, They are going to suffer from these anxiety symptoms early and low self-esteem that will cause the child to develop depressive symptoms in the future.”
These fat cells that are distributed practically throughout the body are the ones that will have insulin resistance and, therefore, the ones that will give rise to prediabetes.
Prediabetes in overweight children and adolescents
During childhood and adolescence, fat storage cells, called adipocytesthey reproduce in such a way that children, even adolescents, can reach a much higher number than what would correspond to them, as the doctor tells us. “This means that they will have more fat storage cells in their body and, therefore, more capacity to house and store fat, to generate fatty deposits.”
And here a problem arises because “fat, in the end, not only accumulates in the abdomen or accumulates in the breasts, or it can accumulate in the arms or legs, but it even infiltrates the tissues. That is, in obese people, it is part of the musculature,” adds the digestive surgeon. “Are fat cells that are distributed practically throughout the body are the ones that will have a insulin resistance and, therefore, those that will give rise to prediabetes.”
All the possible consequences mentioned are serious enough to be taken into account and for families and educators to think about how to prevent their children or students from reaching this point. Above all, because it is a scourge that is too widespread, since 33% of children between five and 20 years old are overweight (not obese), according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) that Dr. Poza points out.
© Getty ImagesHow to prevent overweight children from developing diabetes or prediabetes?
When overweight occurs in adults, Dr. Alonso Poza considers that metabolic surgery is an effective solution to combat type 2 diabetessince, in 85% of cases, a remission of this type of diabetes is achieved. However, this solution is not applicable to minors, as he himself tells us. “Nowadays we do not consider surgery as the treatment of choice in the obese child”.
He emphasizes that the best way to help an overweight minor is medical treatment “guided by an endocrinologist or a nutritionist” that gives adapted guidelines so that the child can achieve lead a healthy life and eat healthy“eliminating all types of fats, eliminating all types of industrial pastries, eliminating those sweets that are easy to obtain and quick to consume, very rich in sugars.”
It details that one of the ways that usually helps children and adolescents move towards healthy habits is the practice of collective sports that allow you to actively participate. “They are much more inclusive sports” and, consequently, much more interesting and much more attractive for children. “This is what we have to base on weight loss of obese childthat is, in their socio-health education based on sports and a diet rich in proteins of meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and, above all, free, as I said, of sugars and fats,” he emphasizes.
Nowadays we do not consider surgery as the treatment of choice for obese children.
In addition to this, the endocrinology professional will be the one who assesses whether or not it is appropriate to prescribe to the minor, depending on each case, some pharmacological treatment. “It is very difficult for both children and adolescents to have stones in the gallbladder or to have suffered from pancreatitis, so it is more feasible for them to use new drug therapies”.
Thus, “surgery should always be the last choice.” This should never be done, according to Dr. Alonso Poza, before the age of 18 or 20.