Want another reason not to put your kids under the knife for a tonsillectomy?
Word has it, putting your kids in the hospital so a doctor can cut out those little chunks of lymphatic tissue at the back of the mouth could make them fat. And we're not talking about all that ice cream served up during recovery.
A Dutch study of almost four thousand kids determined that eight year olds who underwent a tonsillectomy when they were younger were at a heightened risk of obesity - regardless of whether doctors had also removed their adenoids. The doctors factored in kids who were already overweight when they were tots (pre-surgery) as a control, and they say they were able to determine the tonsillectomy prompted the obesity.
They're not calling for tonsil surgeries to stop - the numbers performed in the states have steadily decreased since the 1970s anyway. Instead, the researchers call for better nutrition management and education for kids who have had the surgery.
Considering I still have my tonsils, I guess that's one less chance I have to blame my big butt on someone else. Sigh. . . although, I could always blame it on the baby I had three years ago, right? Right?
Image: Kids Health
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