Obesity in children: recent NICE guidance

Despite a levelling off in obesity rates, 3 out of 10 children in England aged 2–15 years were either overweight or obese in 2011.1 Seventy-nine per cent of children who are obese in their early teens are likely to remain obese as adults. Consequently, they will be at greater risk of conditions such as type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, hypertension and psychological morbidity starting in adolescence,2 as well as coronary heart disease and some cancers in adulthood.3–5 This high proportion of overweight or obese children poses financial challenges for the National Health Service (NHS).3 The focus of this review is on aspects pertaining to children from two recently published guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (box 1). NICE also has a suite of previous guidelines for managing obesity (box 1). Box 1 ### Resources: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on obesity Recent guidelines reviewed in this article 1. Identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in children, young people and adults. NICE clinical guidance 189 (2014): https://nice.org.uk/guidance/cg189 (link to full guidance) https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg189/resources (link to tools and resources) https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg189/ifp/chapter/about-this-information (link to information for the public) 2. Prevention and lifestyle weight management in children and young people NICE quality standard 94 (2015): http://nice.org.uk/guidance/qs94 3. Public Health England's healthier, more sustainable catering: provides information for those involved in purchasing food and drink and provides definitions for low, medium and high levels of fat, saturates, sugars and salt per portion/serving size for food and drink. The Change4Life website gives suggestions for healthy food and drink alternatives :http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/change-for-life.aspx Previous NICE guidance on obesity CG43 Obesity prevention (December 2006, updated March 2015) PH17 Promoting physical activity for children and young people (2009). PH27 Weight management before, during and after pregnancy (July 2010). PH42 …