OBJECTIVE: To review therapeutic approaches to childhood obesity and also its diagnosis and prevention. SOURCES OF DATA: Searches were performed of scientific papers held on the MEDLINE, Ovid, Highwire and Scielo databases. Keywords utilized were: "childhood obesity" and a variety of combinations of this term with "treatment", "prevention" and "consequence". The search returned papers including review articles, observational studies, clinical trials and consensus statements. Bibliographical references in these articles were also investigated if it was perceived that they were relevant. Data was collected from 1998 to 2003. SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS: While a number of different Brazilian prevalence studies were found, few gave details of the results of educational programs in our country. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood obesity must be prevented through prescriptive diets from birth throughout childhood. Educational programs that might be applicable to primary health care or schools should receive further study.
Obesity; overweight; eating habits
