Is childhood obesity abusive?
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Is childhood obesity abusive?
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Dear all, my name is Ahmed Talib (FY2 doctor) and this is my first post that I hope you will find interesting. It is a very interesting news article where a mother in united states of america
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Is childhood obesity abusive?
posted at 30/11/2011 6:39 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 3
First: 30/11/2011 Last: 2/12/2011 |
Dear all, my name is Ahmed Talib (FY2 doctor) and this is my first post that I hope you will find interesting. It is a very interesting news article where a mother in united states of america lost custody of her child recently due to her child being severely obese Link http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2011/11/27/obese-third-grader-taken-from-family-placed-in-foster-care/ Moreover I found a paper “State Intervention in Life-Threatening Childhood Obesity” In JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, (July 2011) by the authors Lindsey Murtagh of the Harvard School of Public Health and David S.Ludwig of the Children’s Hospital in Boston Link: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/2/206.short . Suggesting that we do consider social responsibility when a child is being starved , shouldn't we then consider the same when a child is overfed? This is a clearly difficult and interesting case; and there are clearly arguments in both sides of the table and I would be interesting to see what you all think? Are the parents to blame here alone? or is obesity simply multifactorial to be blaming parents alone? Is it the government responsible here? Especially when not banning unhealthy food in school , when not increasing tax of unhealthy food, and when not removing tax and promoting healthy food? Or in the end it is the parents that run the show for a child? They are the ones that actualy teach the eating and lifestyle habits to the child. Let me know your views ! Ahmed
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Re: Is childhood obesity abusive?
posted at 2/12/2011 4:58 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1
First: 2/12/2011 Last: 2/12/2011 |
Dear Ahmed, A lot of the points and examples you draw on are valid and important examples of societies trying to adjust to and cope with the problem of childhood obesity. The vote, however, put my back up so I thought I'd outline my thoughts as to why rather than just not vote. I find the question 'is childhood obesity abuse?' slightly disturbing. We know, even if we know nothing else about it, that obesity is part of a complex and deep problem which is embedded within our cultures in the UK and the US especially. Trying to source the blame with irresponsible parents or place it at the governments feet is territory we need to be careful in entering. What better way to alienate the very people we are concerning ourselves with trying to help than to use the label child abuse too freely, even amongst ourselves? So yes, we should indeed consider social responsibility, and quickly if things are going to change! But why does that mean creating villains out of parents and new tiers of government intervention to rescue their children from them? Is there not another, more intelligent, compassionate and wise way of approaching this- realising that obesity is abusive to children in the same way a poor education system is or social inequalities are, putting some children at a disadvantage from day one. Would it not be more beneficial to question that disadvantage, that a society wide neglect of children's health can be seen as a form of abuse- fuelled by many people who should know better, including those in governments- but only occasional perpetuated by parents who firstly know how to realistically improve their families health and secondly, have a viable means of doing so. My other thought on this is that guards child abuse from a 'boy who cried wolf ' scenario, leaving it able to be recognised and acted upon when it does occur, and yes sometimes I do think those cases will involve children who were overfed or fed badly. You'll probably all recognise my views for what they are- I've just finished a placement in public health and health innovation! Thanks for posting this Ahmed, important questions that have provoked a little heavy first post! Eleanor Medical Student |
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Re: Is childhood obesity abusive?
posted at 2/12/2011 9:35 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1360
First: 25/1/2009 Last: 14/6/2013 |
Some chidhood obesity is due to genuine medical conditions - for example hypothyroidism or prader-willi syndrome, But unfortunatley most cases are due to a combination of poor diet and lack of exercise. Children do not reach a BMI of 35 by being fed normal amounts of normal foods. If a 7 year old child had a BMI of 15 due to innappropriate nutrition provision by parents most people would accept that the child had been neglected. Why is it not recognised as the same for overweight children? |
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Re: Is childhood obesity abusive?
posted at 2/12/2011 10:23 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 607
First: 8/6/2011 Last: 17/6/2013 |
Most people just don't know wich is the helthy allimentation. I think creating in the populations a helthy mentality based on the correct knowledge would have the better results. And of course extremes ( not becouse of illness or poverty ) should be punished by the low. |
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Re: Is childhood obesity abusive?
posted at 2/12/2011 11:48 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 326
First: 27/10/2011 Last: 14/6/2013 |
if i had to choose the two most weighted (ahem) factors, they would be: 1) emotional dissonance in the parent-child relationship 2) crap in pre-prepared food, whether fast or slow |
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Re: Is childhood obesity abusive?
posted at 4/12/2011 5:00 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 20
First: 22/7/2011 Last: 30/4/2012 |
British women are the fattest in Europe. men have only managed second place. Much of this could stem from the view "It's not their fault " coming from doctors with a vested interest. Could anything be more disempowering? Medical causes for obesity are often apparent and some so rare that they should not dictate our overall policy. The aim of making obesity in childhood as a form of abuse is not to punish the parents but as part of making the public aware that this is a preventable problem and to target families in need of salvage treatment. Just how one stops a child from overeating with such ready access to tempting foods is quite a challenge but we would not accept underage alcohol and smoking as readily - both of which are lesser threats to the NHS as a whole. |
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Re: Is childhood obesity abusive?
posted at 5/12/2011 8:48 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 20
First: 27/9/2011 Last: 13/1/2012 |
We all know the medical consequences of obesity, especially when the patterns of over-eating are ingrained from a young age. If people cannot stop themselves overeating they should at least try to make lifestyle changes for the sake of their children; and if they can't do this, then maybe they do need a wake-up call, and calling it abuse certainly does this. |
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Re: Is childhood obesity abusive?
posted at 5/12/2011 9:45 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1497
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 19/6/2013 |
And news in today... Council 'put child, 5, into care for being obese'http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8934809/Council-put-child-5-into-care-for-being-obese.html |
