An interview with Dr. Michael Lis, head of the Department of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetology, Nephrology at Czerniakowski Hospital in Warsaw.

We know that obesity is a serious problem, and we are talking about it more and more in the context of children's health as well. Until recently, we talked about obesity as a cosmetic defect - today we are talking about a disease entity. Until recently, we said there was nothing to offer these patients - now we have these options. What are these options and what needs does it raise?

Indeed, we talk about obesity as a disease, for the reason that obesity shortens life expectancy. The World Health Organization has defined obesity as a disease. So we talk about obesity disease, and this nomenclature suggests more to the patient that it is a disease, and the disease should be treated. Diagnosis and prevention should be expressed at an early age, which is childhood. Children replicate the patterns of their parents, and it is really up to the parents to determine the lifestyle of their own children.

As for treatment, on the other hand - we have pharmacological and non-pharmacological options, but first and foremost, you have to start with lifestyle changes, with changes in diet, with increasing physical activity and implementing pharmacotherapy. Bariatric treatment is at the very end of the therapeutic chain in selected patients - the group that will actually benefit from this treatment. Not every obese patient should be treated with surgery.