Obesity in children: epidemic and opportunity

Obesity has become widespread among both adults and children in the United States, with the prevalence of overweight and obese children increasing from 15% in 1971 to more than 30% in 2000. This article discusses how to determine whether a child is overweight or obese, the causes of childhood obesity, as well as how physicians can treat this disease using family-based diet, exercise, and behavior modification programs; weight-loss medications; protein-sparing modified fasting; and bariatric surgery.