[Obese children and adolescents in Germany. A call for action]

Abstract

Obesity in children and adolescents has become a major public health issue in our country. Until now this issue has not been sufficiently recognized in our health system. Compared to reference values from the 1970s every fifth school child and every third adolescent in Germany is overweight today. Obesity as a disease is found in 4-8% of all school children. The prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents seems to still be increasing steadily in Germany. Overweight children have a high risk to become overweight adults with a high risk for the occurrence of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular, orthopedic, and other diseases. Due to the steady increase of the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents and the consequences, it is expected that the German health system and society as a whole will be confronted with considerable costs. The German Ministry for Health and Social Protection as well as the German Ministry for Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture have established working groups who will propose straightforward activities in the field of prevention and treatment. Hopefully these working groups will have enough political and financial support that they will be able to establish activities which are effective in counteracting this important health problem.