New guidelines to treat childhood obesity send mixed messages, says UPEI prof
Recommendations include considering medications or surgeries for some youth
An associate professor and registered dietitian at the University of Prince Edward Island is calling new Canadian guidelines to treat childhood obesity problematic.
"You're saying, on one hand, we don't want to stigmatize heavy weight, but then on the other, you're pulling out pretty big guns to try and attack this," said Sarah Hewko.
"As a child, you're going to be like, 'OK, which one is it? Is it something I should feel ashamed of and deserve to be treated differently for? Or is it not?'"
The guidelines were co-developed by Obesity Canada and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday. It's the first time the guidelines have been updated in nearly 20 years.
"The main kind of takeaways are that we shouldn't be focusing necessarily on specifically weight," said Ian Patton, the director of advocacy and public engagement at Obesity Canada.
"The important things are the health outcomes — you know, quality of life."
'Pretty extreme'
The recommendation includes not just physical, psychological and nutritional interventions, but also medical ones — for example, considering prescribing Ozempic or Mounjaro for children at least 12 years old and surgeries like gastric bypass for those 13 and older.
"It's not saying that every one that is, you know, living with obesity or every kid that has obesity should be put on a medication. That is absolutely not what the guidelines state," said Patton. "But for some people, they are a valuable tool that could be very effective and could be life-altering."
Hewko said the guidelines send mixed messages. She is happy to see components talking about weight stigma, but including "recommendations that you can use surgery and Ozempic or Manjaro in kids is stigmatizing," she believes.
"That's a pretty extreme thing. I do have some fear around that."
Hewko also has concerns about how P.E.I.'s health-care system might struggle to use the guidelines to address issues, given the long waits for family doctors and the demand for more pediatricians.
Still, Patton is optimistic that the new guidelines will make a difference. He grew up living with obesity and believes these latest recommendations could have helped.
"Just having the knowledge of, you know, 'How we can go about this?' can really, really have a positive impact on families as a whole," he said.
"I was really, really ill at one point and I needed some pretty significant help. And I didn't, you know, didn't need to get that far."
While more research is still needed, Patton hopes the introduction of guidelines can change how people understand and think about obesity.