The American Academy of Pediatrics’ new clinical guidelines for treating childhood obesity recommend weight-loss drugs and surgery, prompting some to ask why the academy is focused on profit-generating treatments rather than addressing the root causes.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Monday issued new clinical guidelines for treating childhood obesity, recommending physicians offer weight-loss drugs and surgery to obese children.
The guidelines, amended for the first time in 15 years, highlight the “complex genetic, physiologic, socioeconomic, and environmental contributors” to obesity — but the recommendations focus on treatment rather than prevention and don’t address potential adverse effects of medications and surgeries.
“While we applaud the AAP for addressing the grave issue of childhood obesity, their newest recommendations are misguided and negate the root causes,” Dr. Michelle Perro told The Defender.
For many years, the AAP unsuccessfully promoted the “diet and exercise” mantra while obesity rates continued to soar, Perro said.
Perro, a pediatrician, executive director of GMO Science and author of “What’s Making Our Children Sick?: How Industrial Food Is Causing an Epidemic of Chronic Illness, and What Parents (and Doctors) Can Do About It,” added: Continue reading “Childhood Obesity: Drugs and Surgery Top List of American Academy of Pediatrics New Guidelines”
