AAP’s Obesity Treatments Prioritize Big Pharma Over Children’s Health And Wellness

The American Association of Pediatrics released new guidelines in January. promoting For obese adolescents and children, expensive weight loss medications and stomach rerouting surgeries are available. “safe and effective.” Clean eating and active living can be safer, cheaper and more healthy options than other methods. But, these extreme treatments may also have a detrimental effect on children’s development. These drugs and surgeries mostly benefit the AAP’s members and donors who can use these guidelines to squeeze more money out of vulnerable families.  

The AAP recommends a variety of medical treatments to children in order to induce rapid weight loss. These could cause permanent damage to their mental and physical development. One of them is orlistat. This pill stops fat nutrient and intestinal absorption in the digestive tract by inhibiting the release of fat processing enzymes. It costs $803 a month. Semaglutide is another regular injection that lowers appetite and slows digestion. It costs $1,627 per monthly. Bariatric surgery is the most serious recommendation. This is an invasive procedure that reroutes or removes parts of the digestive system to reduce appetite and increase nutrient absorption. $23,000. 

If these options sound dangerous for children, that’s because they are. Vitamins A, D, and E — critical to growth, bone developmentThe, and immune system —  are fat-soluble Orlistat can cause deficiencies in nutrients.  Semaglutide, which mimics the body’s hormones, carries a serious A Food and Drug Administration risk notice regarding cancer in the thyroid. The thyroid is the organ that regulates most hormones. Bariatric surgery may be the most dangerous. It involves the removal of part of the stomach in order to lower nutrient absorption. can result in malnourishment and low blood sugar, permanently stunting a child’s physical growth and brain development. 

The AAP would not recommend such drastic actions when exercise and basic diet are the best options. children? Look no further than the AAP’s list of top donors, mostly comprised of both ultra-processed-food manufacturers — whose products make children sick and obese — and pharmaceutical companies that sell expensive medications to cure them. GlaxoSmithKline is the manufacturer of orlistat and Novo Nordisk makes semaglutide. 

Rickitt Mead Johnson Nutrition, and Abbott Nutrition are two other top-10 donors on the AAP website. These are the most prominent producers of baby formula. Baby formula in the United States is made from highly processed ingredients. cornOur children are not fed milk but milk. 14 percentage points74% more likely to be obese or overweight than those who are exclusively fed breastmilk, which is 74 percent. These baby formulas are provided by the government. 43 percent Our families are not wealthy enough to be eligible for public assistance. This is why some children come from poor families. more Obesity is twice as common than it used to be. Regardless, it’s significant to note that joining the AAP’s top 10 donors list are Sanofi and Novo Nordisk, two of the three companies supplying Insulin in the United States