[박승찬 하이키한의원 대표원장] Male body shapes are becoming more feminine. The cause is obesity during puberty. Parents think it’s just a little chubby, but children often suffer from serious physical complexes with a round body shape, not tall, and only a chest. It is bound to interfere with peer relationships and academics. Obesity, especially in boys around puberty, be wary of obesity and pay attention to weight management in advance.
The problem of obesity among Korean growing age groups is already so serious that 1 in 4 adolescents is overweight or obese. Here, restrictions on outdoor activities for the past two years due to COVID-19, high fever
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The crisis has become more serious due to an increase in food intake. According to the 2020 Obesity Rate Survey by Statistics Korea, the obesity rate among middle school students was 10.9%, an increase of 1.8% from the previous year, and the obesity rate in high school students increased by 0.4% to 13.3%.
Obesity increases the risk of various diseases such as depression, diabetes, migraine, metabolic syndrome, and hyperlipidemia. Moreover, obesity in growing children is fatal to height growth and body shape formation. This is because it interferes with blood circulation and increases the burden on the bones of the lower body. Fat accumulated in the body becomes cellulite, affecting not only metabolism but also body shape, and growth hormone, which should be helpful for height growth, can be consumed for fat breakdown. Leptin, secreted by fat cells, stimulates sex hormones and may cause precocious puberty. When precocious puberty occurs, the growth plate closes quickly, so the final height may be 10 cm or more shorter than the original height.
Here, the reason that obesity in boys around puberty is a more serious problem is that the secretion of male hormones is disturbed and the secretion of female hormones increases due to obesity during the period when the body is in full swing. Genital growth may be less than average, gynecomastia (gynecomastia) may develop, leading to a feminized body shape, and breasts may remain even following returning to normal weight in adulthood. In fact, the number of male gypsy patients in Korea has exceeded 20,000, and among them, the increase in young men is remarkable. They also have a risk of developing breast cancer.
With proper weight management, obesity problems must be addressed before puberty and beyond. Eat the nutrients necessary for growth evenly, but reduce the intake of high-calorie fast food or carbonated drinks. Making a habit of continuing light stretching or aerobic exercise every day, getting a good night’s sleep and drinking plenty of water to prevent falling into a fake appetite is very effective.
However, if the child is obese for a long time or if the management effect is insufficient, let’s get help from a specialized clinic before it’s too late. If you combine growth treatment and obesity treatment, you will grow taller and lose weight quickly. You’ll be happy to see a noticeable difference in your child’s confidence.