Mumbai hospital sees nearly 300 children with obesity as lifestyle risks intensify

Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital has treated almost 300 children and adolescents with obesity in three years, prompting a dedicated clinic and calls for earlier, non-stigmatising intervention.

Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in Mumbai says it has treated nearly 300 children and adolescents with obesity over the past three years, a figure that underlines how quickly excess weight is becoming a concern in paediatric care. The hospital’s doctors say they are seeing roughly 100 cases a year, with the problem affecting families across lower- and middle-income groups as changing diets, less outdoor play, more screen time and frequent consumption of sugary drinks and ultra-processed food reshape children’s routines.

Doctors at the hospital say the majority of cases appear to be driven by lifestyle rather than an underlying hormonal or genetic disorder. Dr Sudha Rao, the hospital’s medical director and paediatric endocrinologist, said more than 80% of the children assessed in her department had no identifiable endocrine or genetic cause. She said that should reassure families that obesity is not usually the result of a rare medical condition, but it also means parents should not wait for weight to improve on its own.

The wider public health picture is troubling. The hospital’s figures come against a backdrop of rising childhood obesity in India and growing concern among clinicians that weight gain in childhood can set the stage for diabetes, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, fatty liver disease and sleep apnoea later in life. Medical literature also shows that early-onset obesity sometimes warrants closer investigation: a study indexed on PubMed found that among children under five seen at a tertiary centre in India, a notable share had genetic causes, reinforcing the need for careful assessment when obesity appears unusually early or severe.

Rao said warning signs can include poor height gain, rapid unexplained weight gain, developmental concerns or unusual physical features, which may point to a hormonal, syndromic or genetic problem. She also warned that the effects of obesity can appear during adolescence, including insulin resistance, irregular or absent menstrual periods in girls and features associated with polycystic ovary syndrome. She said families should focus on realistic changes rather than restrictive diets, including more home-cooked meals, fruits and vegetables, fewer packaged snacks and sugary drinks, more daily physical activity, less recreational screen time and better sleep.

In response, Wadia Hospital has set up a dedicated multidisciplinary obesity clinic that runs every Saturday afternoon, giving families a structured route to assessment and counselling. The hospital, which says it sees more than 100,000 outpatients each year, is also researching metabolic syndrome linked to obesity. Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, chief executive of Wadia Group of Hospitals, said the aim is to support children and parents without blame or stigma, and to build healthier habits early enough to reduce long-term disease risk.