British Medical Journal: parents with obese kids "guilty of neglect", pregnant+overweight=preemie

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The British Medical Journal is getting so tough on obesity it seems that Michelle Obama's only whispering in her speeches calling for a curb in childhood obesity.

Following are highlights from two Guardian stories about BMJ reports regarding obesity, children, and parents:

Parents of obese children may be guilty of neglect

Parents who fail to help an obese child eat and exercise properly, ignoring all advice and guidance, could be guilty of neglect, child health experts say today.

Dr Russell Viner and colleagues from the UCL Institute of Child Health in London say that the weight of a child by itself is not a reason for child protection staff to get involved.

But in an article on what they accept is a potentially contentious issue, published online today by the British Medical Journal, they suggest that it may be appropriate to consider the child protection register if the parents consistently fail to change the family's lifestyle and will not engage with outside help.

"Parental failure to provide their children with adequate treatment for a chronic illness (asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc) is a well accepted reason for a child protection registration for neglect," they write.

"We suggest that childhood obesity becomes a child protection concern when parents behave in a way that actively promotes treatment failure in a child who is at serious risk from obesity and when the parents or carers understand what is required, and are helped to engage with the treatment programme."

Obese women 'should slim before conceiving'

Overweight women should slim down and have counselling before they get pregnant because being fat poses such a serious risk of them having a premature baby, doctors warn today.

Women carrying excess weight have up to a 30% greater chance of having a baby before it reaches 37 weeks gestation, medical researchers in Canada write in today's British Medical Journal.

Premature babies are at much higher risk of dying or suffering a range of illnesses and impairments.

Those who are overweight or obese have an extra 30% risk of having their child induced before 37 weeks, and have a 26% chance of delivering their baby prematurely before it reaches 32 weeks, according to a team of researchers led by Sarah McDonald, an associate professor in the maternal-fetal medicine department at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

"Ideally, overweight or obese women should have pregnancy counselling so that they are informed of their perinatal risks and can try to optimise their weight before pregnancy," the authors say.