AboutJacqueline Jacques, ND Expertise My expertise is in nutrition and weight loss surgery. I can answer questions related to nutritional care, vitamins, deficiencies, diagnosis, treatment and management. I can answer nutrition questions related to any procedure: gastric bypass (RNY), duodenal switch, lap-band, etc
Experience I have spent seven years working almost exclusinvely in the area of weight loss surgery and nutrition.
Publications Bariatric Times, Beyond Change Obesity, WLS Lifestyles, Nutrition and the MD, OH Magazine
Awards and Honors Health Professional of the Year 2004 - Bariatric Support Centers International
Question QUESTION: hello
i have a 15 yr old son, and he weighs around 78 kg and is greatly obese. he is only about 5,4" tall aswell. do you have any ideas on what i could do to get him down to a healthy weight? do those weight loss milkshakes work and if so is my son too young to take them, or do they stunt growth or something?
ANSWER: Dear Helen,
At his current size, your son is significantly overweight, but not yet at the level of being obese. As a mother, you are right to be concerned because this extra weight can both affect him now (physically and socially) as well as in adulthood.
Weight loss in a child should always be medically supervised because of issues related to growth and development. For a boy of 15, it is likely that your son is not yet done growing and this needs to be taken into consideration as he loses weight - especially to make sure that he gets enough and the right kinds of nutrition to be healthy as he drops weight. This can be an issue with some kinds of weight loss shakes depending on how they are formulated and what nutrition they contain.
I would like to be able to point you in the direction of some good health resources for you and your son, but I am suspecting since you gave his weight in kilogrmas that you are outside of the United States. If you let me know where you are, I might be able to point you in the right direction. Regardless, you might first start by giving a call to your family physician and asking what local resources they have for medical weight loss programs.
PLease let me know if I can provide any additional information - again, I think I can give you some better resources if I know what country you are in.
In Health,
Dr. Jacques
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QUESTION: Thank you very much for your help, i live in Australia. I am very concerned about my sons health, i greatly appreacitate your help.
Answer Helen,
I have been working on some place for you you to get information.
Here is what I have so far:
1) The Center for Obesity Research and Education is in Melbourne at Monash University (I know that is far), but they have a great web site with a lot of information and they may be able to help you with a referral for your son. They are an internationally renown center. Their website is: http://www.core.monash.org/
2) Dr John Dixon who is at CORE, mentioned two childhood obesity researchers in the Sydney area. Louise Baur and Kate Steinbeck. I do not have contact information for them, but you may be able to look them up locally?
3) Novartis Medical Nutrition has a physician-supervised medical weight management program called Optifast. They have trained physicians around Australia. You can locate clinics near you here: http://www.optifast.com/find_an_optifast_clinic.do
If I find more, I will let you know, but this might get you started.
