A BMI of 26 or higher – which would be a weight of more than 150
pounds on a 5-foot-4-inch frame – is considered overweight. In
2004, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
said BMI standards for children undergoing weight-loss surgery
should be the same as those set for adults by the National
Institutes of Health. Not everyone agreed with that
recommendation. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued more
restrictive guidelines for young patients that same year. It
said the minimum BMI should be 40 for children with another
serious health problem and 50 for those without other illnesses.
The pediatrics group also established age thresholds: Girls
should be at least 13 years old and boys should be at least 15,
ages at which skeletons have reached maturity and are less
susceptible to the effects of malnutrition. Doctors also
disagree about which type of surgery is best for children. The
bariatric society said both banding and Roux-en-Y gastric
bypass, the most common form of that surgery, are