Worldwide, childhood obesity is on the rise. At present, nearly 1/10 of school-age children in the world are overweight, of which 1/4 belong to the category of obesity. Chinese children and adolescents are generally in the early stages of the obesity epidemic, but the growth is rapid.
Image source: China Childhood Obesity Report 2017
Many elders like to feed their children or grandchildren "round and rolling", thinking that this is a cute and blessed embodiment. As everyone knows, childhood and adolescent obesity is quite harmful to children, from mental inferiority, depression, to the body of nerves, digestion, exercise and other multi-system diseases may lead to.
Thyroid disease is certainly no exception.
Obesity and thyroid disease
In recent years, research on the relationship between obesity and thyroid function has received more and more attention, and the correlation between the two has gradually been determined.
Some obese children and adolescents have elevated TSH levels and normal or mild increases in serum free thyroxine (FT4) and (FT3).
There are three possible causes of childhood obesity associated with thyroid function:
1. Leptin
Leptin is a peptide hormone secreted by fat cells, and its level in the blood is related to the body's fat content.
Leptin levels in obese children were significantly elevated, and leptin was positively correlated with BMI. Serum TSH has also been shown to be positively correlated with leptin levels.
2. Inflammatory factors
Obese people have adipose tissue in a low-grade inflammatory state, releasing a large number of inflammatory factors that inhibit the expression of sodium/iodine transporter mRNA in human thyroid cells and the activity of iodine uptake, thereby increasing the compensatory TSH.
3. Thyroid hormone resistance
Obese patients have a decreased number of hypothalamic T3 receptors, resulting in impaired feedback regulation pathways. This thyroid hormone resistance may also be one of the causes of elevated serum TSH in obese children and adolescents.
But while thyroid hormones can affect body weight by regulating energy metabolism, a mild increase in TSH is more of a consequence than a cause of obesity. Therefore, the diagnosis of methylene depletion in obese children and adolescents should be particularly cautious, and hormone therapy for this part of the population is not recommended for weight loss.
There have also been examples of illegal use of thyroid hormones to lose weight in previous clinics, often because excessive doses may lead to side effects such as palpitations, sympathetic excitement, osteopenia, and even permanent hypothyroidism after discontinuation.
How to control weight?
So is there any way in life to improve the thyroid function of fat children? Little i has a few small suggestions:
1. Young children should avoid touching mobile phones
For young children, mobile phone radiation may affect thyroid function, long-term mobile phone will also lead to sitting, standing posture is not standard, so it is generally not recommended that children under three years of age contact mobile phones, children under seven or eight years old also have to limit the amount.
2. Participate in outdoor sports during the holidays
The best way to control weight is still to rely on exercise, children have a active nature, parents should also take time to take their children during the holidays to carry out outdoor projects such as hiking and climbing mountains.
3. Control your child's reasonable diet and eat less junk food
These "junk foods" not only include "foreign garbage" in traditional cognitions such as snacks and fried chicken, but also include many "Chinese-style garbage" that we think are "healthy foods" in our traditional concept. Most of today's children are in a state of excess fat and sugar, and foods such as chicken soup, bone soup, and pastries must be limited.
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