Chicago – Is it OK for doctors and parents to tell children and teens they’re fat? That seems to be at the heart of a debate over whether to replace the fuzzy language favored by the U.S. government with the painful truth – telling kids if they’re obese or overweight.
Labeling a child obese might “run the risk of making them angry, making the family angry,” but it addresses a serious issue head-on, said Dr. Reginald Washington, a Denver pediatrician and co-chairman of an American Academy of Pediatrics obesity task force. “If that same person came into your office and had cancer, or was anemic, or had an ear infection, would we be having the same conversation? There are a thousand reasons why this obesity epidemic is so out of control, and one of them is no one wants to talk about it.”
The diplomatic approach adopted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and used by many doctors avoids the word “obese” because of the stigma. The CDC also calls overweight kids “at risk of overweight.” Those favoring a change say the current terms encourage denial of a problem affecting increasing numbers of U.S. youngsters.
Under a proposal studied by a committee of the American Medical Association, the CDC and others, fat children would get the same labels as adults – overweight or obese.
The change “would certainly make sense. It would bring the U.S. in line with the rest of the world,” said Tim Cole, a professor of medical statistics at the University College London’s Institute of Child Health.
The debate illustrates just how touchy the nation is about its weight problem.
“(‘Obese’) sounds mean. It doesn’t sound good,” said Trisha Leu, 17, who thinks the proposed change is a bad idea.
The Wheeling, Ill., teen has lost 60 pounds since March as part of an adolescent obesity surgery study at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Dr. Michael Wasserman, a pediatrician with the Ochsner Clinic in Metairie, La., who is not on the committee, said using the term “at risk for overweight” is misleading, creating the perception “that I’m only at risk for it now, so I don’t have to deal with it now.”
Words could hurt
Current terms: The CDC doesn’t call children obese, no matter how fat they are. And it calls those who
qualify as overweight “at risk of overweight.” Only obese children are called overweight. Proposed change: The clearer language,
“obese” and “overweight,” would be applied to children as it is for adults.
Final committee recommendations are expected in September. Organizations including the CDC will decide whether to adopt them.
