Obese children could be offered drastic surgery like stomach stapling on the NHS.
The Daily Mail has reported that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) wants surgery and weight-loss prescription drugs to be options for overweight children if their health is at risk.
Surgery would be an option for children experts believed had reached "physiological maturity", probably around 15 or 16 years old, said Fraser Woodward, communications manager for Nice, told the Mail.
He added however that it would "vary from person to person". He also said the patient, parents and surgeon would all be involved in the decision.
Drug treatments would also be considered, but only for those aged under 12 if their lives were at risk.
The desperate measure, aimed at tackling the obesity epidemic in Briton, comes as critics complain of children doing less and less exercise in schools and the increase of junk food in restaurants and shops.
During stomach stapling the size of a patient's stomach is reduced so that they feel full after eating small amounts. The technique involves either stapling the stomach or fitting a gastric band.
Nice insisted children would have to undergo a thorough assessment before being considered for surgery.
Professor Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, told the Mail that surgery should remain an option for treating childhood obesity.
He said: "You would consider it is because these children are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes in later life, they have significant risk factors for premature cardiovascular disease, and they are more at risk of developing cancer."
How about healthy diet free of aspartame, MSG, and softdrinks being considered?
Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:43 pm
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deathstickboy
Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 108 Location: BC, Canada
That and running their fat asses around the feld for 3 hours a day.
Sick some angry dobermans behind them, so that they can get and adrenaline kick to help jumpstart that metabolism.
I think its really about " doctors NEED to make more money off bullshit opperations"
Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:16 pm
Standvast
Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 91 Location: the paddleless glassbottom ark
What they [the parents] really need is information on how
not to grow obese in the first place, indeed
some proper excercise , and the right example
of how to interact with their bodies.
