When parents ignore a child’s weight problem, they make it harder for the child to achieve a healthy weight and undermine ongoing efforts to combat rampant childhood obesity. “Denial and delusion are disempowering,” says David L. Katz, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief of Childhood Obesity and Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center, in the Editorial “Oblivobesity: Looking Over the Overweight that Parents Keep Overlooking” published in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Childhood Obesity website June 6, 2015.

Parent obliviousness to obesity in their children is a global phenomenon that warrants a name of its own, leading Dr. Katz to coin the term “oblivobesity.” If obese children and teens do not recognize that they are overweight, then they will be much less likely to attempt weight loss. In his Editorial, Dr. Katz probes the reasons for the misperception by parents of a child’s weight, and the consequences when a child is obese or overweight.

An obsession with weight and weight loss is not healthy, notes Dr. Katz, and weight is certainly not a measure of human worth. The focus instead should be on promoting health and avoiding the long-term consequences of obesity, as a family, by eating well, being active, and helping children lose weight in a loving and supportive environment.

About the Journal

Childhood Obesity is a bimonthly journal published online with Open Access options and in print, and is the journal of record for all aspects of communication on the broad spectrum of issues and strategies related to weight management and obesity prevention in children and adolescents. The Journal publishes peer-reviewed articles documenting cutting-edge research and clinical studies, opinion pieces, and roundtable discussions. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Childhood Obesity website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative medical and biomedical peer-reviewed journals, including Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, Population Health Management, Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics (DTT), and Journal of Women’s Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

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Kathryn Ryan
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914-740-2100

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

Journal
  Childhood Obesity