Psychologists at the Forefront of Weight Management: Health Care Providers Can Play a Key Role in the Fight Against Weight Problems in Young People

No way. Well, one way actually.

Over the last few decades, the dramatic rise in pediatric obesity rates has emerged as a public health threat requiring urgent attention. The responsibility of identifying and treating eating and weight-related problems early in children and adolescents falls to health care providers and other professionals who work with the child, according to Professor Denise Wilfley and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in the US. Furthermore, the key to successful treatment is a team effort involving providers and parents...

The authors conclude: "Not only are there more obese children now than in the past, but the severity of overweight among these children is also much greater. The dramatic increase in pediatric obesity rates has created a mounting need for clinicians, psychologists, and other mental health care providers to play a significant role in the assessment and treatment of youth with eating- and weight-related problems."

The one way is for physicians and others to do their legally mandated jobs of reporting the nutritionally abused children to the appropriate authorities.

If they don't, punish them.