WHO: Healthy Diet and Exercise Are the Foundation for Treating Childhood Obesity

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended on Wednesday prioritizing interventions that combine a healthy diet, physical activity, and behavioral support for treating obesity in children and adolescents, while considering medication and surgical options for adolescents in specific cases. These recommendations constitute the first global guidelines issued by the organization to address obesity in this age group. The WHO stated that approved medications may be considered for adolescents aged 10 to 19 if supervised, comprehensive lifestyle programs do not yield the desired results. Bariatric surgery may also be considered for adolescents with severe obesity, under strict conditions and after six months of treatment without sufficient results. For children under 10, the WHO does not recommend the use of obesity medications, surgery, or weight-loss devices due to limited evidence regarding their long-term safety and efficacy. Instead, it recommends comprehensive interventions encompassing diet, physical activity, and behavior change.

Louise Maria de Regt, Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at the WHO, noted that available evidence on approved glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists remains insufficient to issue a final recommendation, adding that researchers are monitoring efficacy and safety trial results and that recommendations may be revised as more data emerge. The WHO emphasized the need to make healthy diets and physical activity affordable, stressing that treatment alone is insufficient to halt rising obesity rates. According to the WHO, approximately 170 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 were obese in 2024, out of roughly 400 million who were overweight. The obesity rate in this age group has quadrupled since 1990.