Summary
The frequency of obesity in the Western world has been progressing during the last decades: about 50% of the Americans and 30% of the Europeans have overweight or obesity. The frequency of obesity and overweight in children and adolescents reaches about 10% in the United States. Monogenetic forms of obesity are rare, but they are very interesting as they give us more insight into the pathogenesis of obesity. Most cases of obesity, however, result from multifactorial interactions between genes and environment. Genes involved in weight gain do not directly cause obesity, but they increase the susceptibility to fat gain in subjects exposed to a specific environment. Both genetic background and environment define the setpoint for obesity or adipostat, which explains why it is often very difficult for obese people to lose weight.
In the short term, childhood obesity is associated with both physical and psychosocial consequences. In the longer term, the greatest risk is the increased likelihood of adult obesity with its associated health risks. Prevention of obesity would be the best treatment, but unfortunately few effective preventive programs exist. For those children who are already obese, effective treatment is mandatory. The general aim is normalization of body weight and body fat and long-term weight maintenance. This is reached by modifying eating and exercise behavior, thereby establishing a new and healthier lifestyle.
Samenvatting
Gedurende de laatste decennia is in onze Westerse maatschappij obesitas sterk toegenomen. In de Verenigde Staten heeft 50% van de bevolking last van overgewicht of obesitas, in Europa is dat ongeveer 30%. Ook bij kinderen en adolescenten is de frequentie van obesitas toegenomen: deze is ongeveer 10% in de Verenigde Staten. Wat de etiologie betreft, spelen zowel genetische als omgevingsfactoren een rol. Monogenetische vormen van obesitas zijn zeer zeldzaam, maar wetenschappelijk wel interessant omdat ze ons meer inzicht verschaffen in de pathogenese van obesitas. De meeste vormen van obesitas zijn multifactorieel bepaald: zowel genetische factoren als omgevingsfactoren verhogen de gevoeligheid van het individu om obesitas te ontwikkelen. Beide factoren bepalen ook de doelwaarde voor vetweefsel, de ‘adipostat’. Deze doelwaarde verklaart waarom het vaak zo moeilijk is voor adipeuze personen om gewicht te verliezen.
Obesitas op de kinderleeftijd leidt op korte termijn vooral tot psychosociale problemen en op lange termijn tot een ernstige morbiditeit. De beste behandeling van obesitas is preventie, maar op dit ogenblik bestaan er nog niet veel efficiënte preventieprogramma's. Als kinderen of adolescenten reeds adipeus zijn, steunt de behandeling op drie belangrijke pijlers: dieet, sport en gedragsverandering. Het is van belang niet slechts te streven naar normalisatie van het lichaamsgewicht, maar ook naar het behoud van een normaal gewicht op de lange termijn.
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K. Casteels en J. Vinckx, afdeling Pediatrie, uz Gasthuisberg, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, België.
Correspondentieadres: K. Casteels, Pediatrie uz Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, België. Tel: 00 32 16 3438 40, fax: 00 32 16 3438 42, e-mail:
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Casteels, K., Vinckx, J. Obesitas: een prangend probleem in de kindergeneeskunde. KIND 69, 77–82 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03061334
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03061334