AIIMS holds public discussion on obesity

New Delhi: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Wednesday held a public lecture on obesity.

The lecture was conducted to make people, especially parents, aware about obesity, its causes, prevention and management.

Speaking at a press conference before the lecture, Dr Naval K Vikram, Department of Medicine, said that the lecture is being held to create awareness about obesity. "Today, there is a rise in obesity among children, especially in Urban setting," he said.

Dr Vikram also said that with coming of technology things have changed as there is no focus on physical activity among kids.

"Obesity has become a lifestyle issue these days. Students giving competitive exams study all day and there is no physical activity, this also results in obesity," he added.

The doctors present at the press conference blamed 'lifestyle' as the main reason for obesity.

They said, "99% of obesity cases are due to lifestyle only." "Junk food and no physical activity could be attributed towards this," said Dr Rajesh Khadgawat, Department of Endocrinology at

AIIMS.

He also mentioned that according to a study private schools have more obese kids than that of government school.

"It is mostly because government schools don't have canteens that serve junk food, so kids mostly bring food from home. While in private schools as both the parents are working, they give their children money to eat from the canteen," he added.

Dr Vikram asserted that while surgery can be done for weight loss, there aren't a lot of medicines for weigh loss available in India.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sandeep Agarwal at Department of Surgical Disciplines, AIIMS said over the past two years they have seen more than 700 patients come to the clinic for surgery.

"This is the data from just one clinic, there are many other," added Dr. Vikram.