Quote:
Should children be administered Ozempic-style jabs to help tackle obesity?
Yes, childhood obesity needs tackling urgently 24%
No, children should be educated on how to make healthy lifestlye choices 76%
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The way the two choices are worded makes it sound like there really are only 2 choices:
1) Drug the kids thin
OR
2) Make the kids feel guilty that they just keep gaining weight on what they're told to eat (low fat, high carb, minimal protein), because it just makes them more hungry and less energetic.
Why not start by figuring out what it is about the kids current diet that has them so lacking in energy that they need to be encouraged to exercise 1 hour daily?
If they're being chosen for a drug trial, surely they've looked into what the kids are eating on a regular basis. And at that age, what they're eating is almost entirely up to their parents and other adults in their lives, not the kids.
It's not that difficult to test what their current diet is doing to their blood sugar and insulin levels over the course of several hours. A glucose tolerance test (or for that matter finger pricks every hour) can tell you a lot about how your body handles blood sugar - that could be the very issue that's causing them to feel hungry all the time (and if the GLP-1 is helping then, it undoubtedly has something to do with blood sugar - which goes back to what they're eating)
They just need to acknowledge that switching from candy bars, cookies, and fries to whole grain bread, baked potatoes, and fruit won't make much difference at all - it all raises blood sugar, which can easily result in higher insulin levels, lethargy, and ravenous hunger.
Alter their diets to cut way back on carbs (mostly limiting them to non-starchy vegetables and low sugar fruits), retain enough dietary fat (or perhaps even increase it if they've been on a strict low fat diet) and add in enough protein to reach a good satiation level, and they might just *magically* see both the exercise and weight issues resolved.
It is admittedly difficult to make that switch - especially for a child who has no control over what food is being provided for them, and is used to eating lots of carbs, but I'm sure the biggest drawback to even trying this method is that it doesn't require drugs.