Childhood obesity and adulthood consequences.

The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide both for adults and children. Although obesity has underlying genetic causes, possibly explaining about 50% of the body weight variation, the dramatic recent increase must be due to behavioural reasons. Lifestyle questions must be addressed if new preventive and treatment strategies are to be developed. Since many obese children grow into obese adults with high risks for complications and a low quality of life, more aggressive treatment methods for the obese child could be envisaged.