OBESITY IN CHILDHOOD

Abstract

Excessive deposition of fat and abnormal increase in weight presuppose that the organism receives more food than it burns under the given circumstances of its life. The problem of food intake of obese children has been dealt with in a previous paper.¹ It was found that the food intake of most obese children was far in excess of that of nonobese children. In many cases the food intake was so large that it might well have accounted for the progressive increase in weight. The problem arises as to whether conservation in energy expenditure of obese children is another factor contributing to the excessive accumulation and storage of fat tissue. Energy is derived from the food ingested. The utilization of food by obese persons is not different from that by thin persons,² and the correction for nonresorbed food is similar in both instances. In contrast to this single source