Italy’s child obesity time-bomb
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Thank you for downloading this podcast from the BBC. I'm Sofia Bettica and you're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service. In this edition of Assignment, I'm in Naples, the biggest city in southern Italy. This whole area is suffering from an obesity crisis, with children here amongst the most overweight in Europe. What's gone wrong and can it be fixed? This is the Betania Hospital, a busy health facility in a suburb of Naples, the largest city in southern Italy. It's at the forefront of dealing with an obesity epidemic for Italian children. Salvatore is 16 and is here at the hospital with his mum, Anna. He's morbidly obese. That means, without change, his weight poses a significant risk to his health and life expectancy.
I can't even sign him up for the gym because he's so obese. They don't want to take on the responsibility.
Your son is not allowed to go to the gym.
Why? He can't go to the gym because he weighs too much. Because they rightly say that he gets out of breath.
Something could happen to him. Salvatore doesn't currently go to school or work. And as you just heard, he's effectively barred from his local gym. When he gets on his Vespa scooter, he's so heavy he breaks it time and again.
How many times did the wheels break in a week? Seven times? Seven. He broke the motorcycle wheel in a week because he weighs so much. That's dangerous.
Yes, it is. Those who are not living through it cannot understand it.
Salvatore is under the care of Dr Sonia Chiappetta, an expert in the surgical treatment of obesity. She has been working with and operating on obese patients for 15 years. Salvatore and Anna are from Torre Annunziata, a suburb very close to the world-famous archaeological remains of Pompeii. Other patients come from Ponticelli, where the Britannia Hospital is situated. Both places have many people on low incomes. Ponticelli itself has one of the highest child obesity rates in Europe.
What is driving the child obesity crisis in Naples and southern Italy?
The surgery Dr Chiapetta carries out generally means removing up to 90% of their stomachs if their health is at serious risk. And demand is increasing. World Health Organization figures show Italian children are the second most overweight in the EU and the joint third most obese.
The patients are getting younger and normally the patient with obesity, with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, this was a patient I saw around age of 50. Now I see these patients around age of 16, 17, 18, 20. Music
This is the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Sofia Betidza. In this edition of Assignment, I'm finding out why the children growing up in a country many associate with the legendary Mediterranean diet are becoming overweight and clinically obese in record numbers. And if anything is being done about it.
His weight has always been excessive.
When he was 12, he weighed 100 kilos. Overeating is normal for him. Salvatore is not this boy's real name. He didn't want to be recognised. His mother, Anna, who is a supermarket manager, was happy for us to use hers. Salvatore is waiting for an operation to reduce the size of his stomach. The problem is he's too obese to currently have it. He's here today so that Dr Chiapetta can give him a weight loss injection that will, hopefully, reduce his hunger and bring down his body mass to a level where it's safe for her to operate on him. Anna has two other children and she says neither are overweight, let alone obese. Still, she says people blame her for Salvatore's condition, even though she says she's done her best for all three children.
Do you ever feel judged as a parent?
Parents always point the finger, but I think that if you're not in this situation, you can't judge. You can't point the finger because it's easy to say it's your fault, but it's not like that.
Being overweight or obese is generally classified around the world according to agreed criteria. Doctors calculate your BMI or body mass index by looking at your weight and height.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:20
2
What is driving the child obesity crisis in Naples and southern Italy?
3:20–8:23
3
How severe are real-life impacts for obese teenagers like Salvatore?
8:23–16:17
4
Why are doctors performing major stomach surgery on young patients?
16:17–29:06