For 12-year-old Tran Van A. from Dong Thap Province, the situation reached a critical breaking point when his grandmother rushed him to Children’s Hospital 2 in HCMC with prolonged shortness of breath. Though just 12 years old, A. weighs a staggering 108kg, strictly classifying him with class-3 severe obesity. His incredibly heavy body renders walking immensely difficult and breathing highly arduous, forcing him to sleep seated every single night
At the bustling hospital, tests showed his liver enzymes and blood lipids were dangerously elevated. According to relatives, A. snacks heavily and drinks roughly three large glasses of milk tea daily. Specialists successfully conducted a joint consultation, firmly determining this is a clear case of diet-induced obesity. They noted his liver enzymes simply can’t return to normal until he drastically loses weight to get the ball rolling on recovery
As stated by Level-II Specialist Nguyen Thi Thu Hau, PhD, Head of the Nutrition Department at Children’s Hospital 2, this is a highly concerning trend. She stated they’re increasingly recording numerous overweight children facing the grim risk of early metabolic disorders, primarily among older primary and junior high students. Shockingly, there’re even reported cases of children suffering from severe obesity and complex metabolic disorders before they even turn 10
Meanwhile, over at Gia Dinh People’s Hospital, Level-II Specialist Tran Thi Kim Chi informed that she recently received a 15-year-old female student weighing over 70kg and experiencing menstrual disorders seemingly linked to morbid obesity. The patient displayed glaring signs of insulin resistance, alongside impaired glucose tolerance, severe fatty liver, and polycystic ovary syndrome
According to her mother’s heartfelt account, the student frequently consumes milk tea, snacks incessantly on deep-fried treats, and almost never participates in physical activities. At the end of the day, spending four to six hours glued to a screen daily takes a heavy toll
Specialist Kim Chi noted that the sheer figure for school-aged children visiting medical facilities due to being overweight is currently trending upward. More seriously, an increasing number of cases are discovered during routine health exams at schools or when actively diagnosing underlying conditions like lipid disorders and pre-diabetes. In HCMC alone, the skyrocketing rate of overweight individuals inevitably brings a heightened risk of severe non-communicable diseases
Health experts commented that thoroughly unhealthy and fiercely uncontrolled eating habits such as downing milk tea daily, eating fried chicken weekly, consuming excessive snacks, and indulging in high-sugar foods coupled with profound physical inactivity, are the primary culprits causing childhood obesity
Level-II Specialist Tran Thi Kim Chi explicitly pointed out that in heavily urbanized environments like HCMC, young children constantly face numerous invisible “traps,” the most recognizable of which lies deeply embedded in fast foods that appear densely around school gates with incredibly cheap prices. Consequently, kids access high-energy foods with alarming ease. Alongside that, densely packed academic schedules heavily dictate that time strictly dedicated to physical activity gets severely slashed.
The doctor also expressed deep concern regarding the psychological “traps” masterfully set by modern media. It appears eye-catching food advertisements plastered across social networks effortlessly manipulate the inherent consumer behavior of vulnerable adolescents. Furthermore, intense academic pressure frequently causes stressed youths to seek solace in binge eating to reduce tension
Sharing a similar perspective, Nguyen Phuong Anh, MMed, at An Binh Hospital in HCMC is worried when teenagers eat according to fleeting internet trends. She highlighted the influence of “mukbang” videos, documenting content creators consuming massive quantities of food. From a medical perspective, videos featuring such activities genuinely possess the advantage of stimulating the appetite for malnourished individuals. However, when the audience is young children, the consequences are incredibly unpredictable.
“Children simply don’t possess sufficient health awareness, so if they continuously watch numerous videos of this genre, they’ll mistakenly assume it represents a perfectly normal standard. This glaring variation in eating norms ultimately forms a deeply-rooted negative habit, inevitably leading to alarming medical pathologies,” she emphasized
Faced with this lurking “obesity pandemic,” doctors strongly recommend that parents diligently help their children forge a healthy nutritional habit early on
Children generally need to increase physical activity, get sufficient sleep, and strictly limit screen time. Concurrently, there must be tight-knit coordination among the family, school, and health sector to rigorously monitor BMI metrics. Routine health screenings are crucial to successfully detect the lurking risks of being overweight early on
Ultimately, by cultivating a scientific lifestyle, children can smoothly dodge the ubiquitous obesity “traps” persistently existing in modern life
By Minh Khue – Translated by Thanh Tam
