TAMPA, Fla. — More children are being diagnosed with obesity in the United States.

In fact, more than 18 percent of children in the U.S. are living with this disease according to a 2022 article from the national library of medicine.

Dr. Greg Savel says to get to the root of things it goes beyond just looking at a patient’s file to get answers, it’s talking to children about their home life.

“it becomes more than just looking at the BMI or the body mass index everybody likes to look at numbers you know it’s all about the analytics but the truth is you want to look at the kid himself or herself if they look unhealthy,” he said.

He’s been taking care of kids for 35 years as a pediatrician in the Tampa Bay Area and says recently he has seen more obese patients.

“Oh, I think I have a few thousand families here where people are obese because you see it all the time and we are all really worried,” he said.

Over 14 million children and teens in the United States are living with obesity according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The organization released a new set of guidelines to treat obesity in children.

The guidelines as for younger children, the focus should be on behavior and lifestyle.

But starting at 12-years-old, kids could take pharmaceutical drugs.

And beginning at age 13, kids could be potential candidates for metabolic and bariatric surgery.

Dr. Savel says he agrees with this depending on each child’s situation and that some of his own patients have received weight loss surgery.

“And that leads to decades of better health in the future,” he said.

Simple things you teach your kids at an early age can make all the difference.

“Starting at a young age coming up with that play 60. You know, 60 minutes of vigorous exercise every day,” he said.

Helping his patients with the right resources to live a full and bright future. These new guidelines only discussed treatment.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says prevention will be addressed in an upcoming policy statement.