https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33y3151vydo
“Daily life is not easy for Salvatore. At 17, he weighs 170kg (26st 10lb) and
struggles to walk.
He can't tie his own shoelaces and his Vespa scooter strains to bear his weight
- in one week, its wheels broke seven times.
"He eats constantly," says his mother Anna.
Salvatore is among a growing number of Italian children and teenagers living
with obesity. The problem is particularly acute in the south: in parts of the
Campania region, more than 40% of eight and nine-year-olds are overweight. The
town of Ponticelli, on the outskirts of Naples, has earned the unenviable
reputation as one of the world's child obesity capitals.
It is a striking development in a country long regarded as the spiritual home
of the Mediterranean diet. Yet today, Italian children are among the most
overweight in Europe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Salvatore is waiting for life-changing surgery at the Betania Hospital in
Ponticelli, where Dr Sonja Chiappetta has spent 15 years treating patients with
severe obesity.
Until recently, she says, most of her patients were in their fifties. "Now I
see those same patients when they're teenagers, as young as 16. They are
getting younger, and it's frightening."
The surgery she carries out removes up to 90% of the stomach - meaning people
are unable to eat large quantities of food. Demand has risen sharply in this
part of Italy.
But Salvatore has been told he cannot get the operation. His weight is so
excessive it makes the surgery too dangerous.
Instead, Dr Chiappetta has prescribed him a GLP-1 weight-loss injection to
reduce his appetite and help him lose enough weight for the operation.”
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
