This episode of PDACast is brought to you by the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Hello, everybody, and welcome once again to PDACast.

It is a pediatric podcast for moms and dads.

This is Dr. Mike coming to you from the campus of Nationwide Children's Hospital.

We're in Columbus, Ohio.

It's episode 562.

We're calling this one pediatric obesity, weight bias, and stigma.

I want to welcome all of you to the program.

So childhood and teenage obesity is extremely common in the United States, and actually adult obesity is as well.

But when we're talking about kids and teens, over 14 million

of them meet the criteria for pediatric obesity, making this one of the most common chronic

conditions facing American youth and families. Now, the problem is that obesity is also often

accompanied by stigma and bias, which can delay the diagnosis,

interfere with management strategies, contribute to mental health issues like anxiety and depression,

and result in additional medical problems if the obesity is not addressed, such as high blood

pressure, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

So it's important that we eliminate the bias and stigma associated with pediatric obesity

and tackle the problem head on so that kids and teens can get the help they need and live their

healthiest lives. Of course, a group effort is required to make this happen with parents,

doctors, teachers, and community members all playing important roles. So today we're going to

deep dive into pediatric obesity with a particular focus on raising awareness of the bias and

stigma often associated with this condition and then giving you some ideas on how we can overcome the bias and the stigma and really get kids active and eating well and doing all the things that are helpful.

Because it really, and we'll discover this as we go on through the podcast, it's not just a matter of kids making healthier choices to eat and exercising more.

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