It's not that the environment doesn't play a role, but it's that genetics are kind of an open door for the environment to walk into. This is a real shift in thinking about what obesity is and what you're supposed to do when you see it in a child. Imagine a 100-year-old fig tree in Nairobi, Kenya, standing in the path of a major expressway funded by China. There's an outcry, people rallied to divert the highway rather than chop down the tree.
Recent advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended a bold approach to treating the millions of children in the United States who are affected by obesity. Counseling, drug treatment and even surgery should be considered, the group says.
The guidelines are a response to a deeper understanding of what obesity is — and what to do about it.
Guest: Gina Kolata, a medical reporter for The New York Times.
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