Obesity takes toll

A pyramid-scheme's worth of mess. Here are some pieces of the pyramid.

1. Nutritional child abuse:

"Paz Soto didn't even consider her son overweight, so the doctor's next piece of news shocked her. Andy had developed fatty liver disease, a potentially life-threatening, chronic condition usually found in middle-age adults.

'I was really scared when I heard that something was wrong with his liver,' she said through a Spanish interpreter. 'The doctor said Andy's liver got fatty like someone who drinks a lot.'

Andy was just 8 at the time...

Soto said she didn't even realize her son was overweight until his pediatrician showed her his growth charts during an annual physical. She was stunned to learn Andy—about 33 pounds over his ideal body weight—was heavier than more than 97 percent of the children his age.

At 8, he weighed as much as boys six years older who were of average weight."

What was this unfit parent thinking? Doing?

2. More nutritional child abuse:

"Shortly after her children moved back to the U.S. from Mexico in 2005, Saskia Rios noticed they were packing on the pounds.

Her son Fernando Valladolid, who at 12 weighs almost 300 pounds, has struggled most. Rios also is mother to Fernando's fraternal twin, Victor; Andrea Valladolid, 8, and Edgar Tellez, 9 months.

Fernando has been diagnosed with acanthosis nigricans, a darkening of the skin that appears most prominently around the neck, armpits and elbows. The skin changes are a sign of metabolic syndrome, a constellation of conditions that puts a person at risk for diabetes, heart disease and stroke."

"Shortly after...at 12 weighs almost 300 pounds." Not so "shortly" is my guess or the kid was a porker in Mexico.

What was this unfit parent thinking? Doing?

3. Lawbreakers:

"'The earlier you develop diabetes, the more likely you are to develop complications,' said Dr. Paula Butler, chief of endocrinology at Mt. Sinai Hospital. 'People will be having eye problems early, heart problems early, strokes early and go on dialysis. They will suffer knee and back pain, have sleep problems. They may not be able to work. It affects quality of life.'

Of 14 pediatric patients Butler saw on a recent morning, two had borderline diabetes and changes in liver function because of their weight. 'Over the last 10 years, people have started to recognize this increasing obesity and all the things that go along with it,' Butler said.

As a result, many pediatricians are learning how to take care of health problems they didn't have to treat before, said Dr. Surendra Varma, chairman of the endocrinology section of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

'There is an epidemic of type-2 diabetes,' he said. 'We are encountering lipid disorders, sleep apnea and hypertension with good frequency in our practices.'"

Physicians are mandatory reporters under CAPTA - the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.

These physicians are clearly in violation of the law by failing to report cases of nutritional child abuse to the authorities.

Instead, they discuss it in public. So with certainty they are aware of the abuse.

This gross disregard for the law and children's well-being is endemic in the physician culture from the individual practitioner up to the trade organization level, e.g., the AMA.

In fact, it is widespread in the cultures of all mandatory reporters.

4. Malpractice:

"The trend can be seen in the rising number of prescriptions for medications that treat the conditions. Two national pharmacy benefits companies recently reported staggering increases in prescriptions of type-2 diabetes drugs for children and teens.

One of them, Medco Health Solutions Inc., found use of diabetes drugs rose 167 percent for girls ages 10 to 19 between 2001 and 2006. For boys the same ages, it rose 91 percent.

The companies' research also showed smaller increases in the use of medications for other chronic illnesses, including drugs to fight high blood pressure and to lower lipids...

For that reason, some health professionals are taking more drastic measures to help children lose weight. Dr. Brian Edelstein, co-director of the Nutritional Wellness Center at Sinai Children's Hospital, prescribes appetite suppressants for children who fail to lose sufficient weight on their own."

I am clear in my belief that diet drugs are malpractice and these other medications may be as well if they are "needed" due to bad diet advice from the sick care professionals. I suspect that this is likely.

BTW, bariatric surgery is malpractice, too.

5. More malpractice:

"'They've tried conservative management and interventions with calorie counting and exercise, and it doesn't seem to be working,' Edelstein said."

Of course not, since the diets of the sick care professionals, diet gurus, Big Pharma, goverment, etc., will never work.

6. Stupid:

"Varma said poor diet and lack of exercise are largely to blame for the problem.

'The inheritance of these adult diseases in childhood is a result of our consuming too much fast food and not requiring significant physical activity on a daily basis,' Varma said."

Clearly a moron.

The diseases are not "inherited," fast food is not the problem and physical activity is a terribly inefficient way to control weight.

The "blame" for overweight/obesity is too many Calories in.

Nothing else.

And Calories out is the pound of cure for too many Calories in. It is not a reasonable, primary approach to weight control.

Calories out for weight control is a fool's game for just about everybody.

"'I feel like I've been a bad mother,' Rios said."

You have.

"'I've said, 'I'm not going to McDonald's anymore.' But when you're out and you're running late and the kids are hungry, you find yourself rolling through McDonald's. It's the way of life here.'"

You still are. (Since you have apparently proven that you cannot feed your kid "fast food" responsibly.)

And, BTW, it is YOUR "way of life here."

Stop making excuses, assume some responsibility and stop killing your kids.