Fighting Obesity - How Youngsters Can Lose Weight - Tomorrow Today, 11.11.2007

More and more children and young people are overweight and the WHO talks of an epidemic. In Germany, some 3.5 million boys and girls are too fat, twice as many as 20 years ago. Health specialists are worried, because obesity in the young can lead to illnesses such as Type Two diabetes, joint damage and cardiovascular disease. The causes of obesity are usually lack of exercise and poor nutrition. Fat children spend some four hours a day watching television, quite apart from playing computer games. Food craving could be compensation for a lack of attention or frustration with school, family and friends. The Insula Obesity Rehabilitation Centre in Berchtesgaden specialises in heavily overweight children. But they must want to lose weight and be prepared to stay there for at least six months. One in three can be helped with a combination of psychotherapy, tailored diet and plenty of exercise. One 17 year-old managed to drop from 142 to under 100 kilos.