Advice for patients. Diets to prevent or treat obesity.

摘要

Obesity is a serious health problem that impacts many children and adolescents. Today, obesity is defined using the body mass index (BMI), which incorporates both the child's weight and height (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared). Obesity is defined as having a BMI of greater than the 95th percentile. Obesity affects all major organ systems, including the skeletal, muscular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, reproductive, cardiovascular, and pulmonary systems. Complications of obesity in children can be both life threatening and life ending. For these reasons, many families consider diets to prevent or treat obesity.