One day during one of my consulting hours it occurred to me that I often get the same complaint from parents with completely different problems. In both cases the parents tell me their kids eat almost nothing! The first kid was growing on target but the general practitioner was concerned about her light weight. Her weight was indeed a bit more than 2 standard deviations below the expected weight-for-length. According to her mother she hardly ate at all. However, she did drink a lot, especially milk-derivates. I explained that such drinks have a lot of calories. Kids who drink rich drinks sometimes stop eating. If she wanted to get her child to eat better, she would have to give her water, or other drinks without sugars and protein. But as long as her kid was growing well, I wasn't to concerned.
The second child was sent to me because the GP wondered if the kid might suffer from "metabolic syndrome". She was very, very heavy. I don't think I ever saw a heavier child of that age (5 years old). According to her mum she ate almost nothing. She grew fat on the air she was breathing. This happens all the time. Most mothers of obese children tell me seriously that their kids never eat sweets, or snacks, or chocolates, actually they never eat, period. Apparently childhood obesity has something to do with parents who fail to see what is really going on. Often these kids drink to much rich drinks, another similarity with the skinny kids.
I always send such kids on a program to loose weight. Unfortunately I have yet to find a study that shows that such programs have a better outcome. On the long term that is. Lots of studies show short term weight-loss, but when you look at the same kids after 10 or 15 years, they are still obese.
Apparently childhood obesity is a more serious condition than leukemia. Nowadays almost all kids with leukemia are cured after 2 years of intense (evidence-based) chemotherapy. However, there is no evidence based therapy for childhood obesity. There is nothing more the doctor can do for you.
