A BOY of TWO received weight loss surgery after hitting five stone – leaving him with sleep apnoea and bow-legged, The Sun can reveal.
The otherwise healthy lad was one of hundreds of kids across the world to receive surgery to slash their weight. Specific UK figures are not available at present.
Brandy had weight loss surgery at 12. Her mum Lexi’s mum told how she didn’t want her daughter’s weight to soar to 600lb
Lexi spoke movingly for an Australian documentary, explaining she was bullied at school
It comes as a Unicef report announced for the first time ever the world has more obese than starving children.
The kids’ charity revealed have rocketed while the number of and has dropped.
It said the proportion of five to 19-year-olds rated dangerously overweight has more than tripled from three per cent to 9.4 per cent since 2000..
Catherine Russell, director of New York-based , said: “When we talk about malnutrition, we’re no longer just talking about underweight children. Obesity is a growing concern that can impact health and development.
“Ultra-processed food (UPF) is increasingly replacing fruits, vegetables and protein at a time when nutrition plays a critical role in children’s growth, brain development and.”
Ashely told how she put her daughter on weight loss jabs
The boy’s shocking story was revealed in an academic paper published in the National Library of Medicine. It’s not reported where he is from.
It said he weighed 5st with a body mass index (BMI) of 41 when he had a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), where 70-80 per cent of the stomach is removed to create a narrow, ‘sleeve-like’ stomach.
Paper authors Mohammed Al Mohaidly, Ahmed Suliman and Horia Malawi, who are understood to have carried out and prepared for the surgery and be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said: “He was subjected to LSG for his morbid obesity and associated obstructive sleep apnea and bowing of legs.
“LSG was performed after investigations ruled out hereditary or genetic causes of obesity.
“A reduction of 15 per cent in body weight and 30 per cent in BMI was observed at 2 months follow up post LSG and the obstructive sleep symptoms were considerably resolved.”
They added: “Although the parents were informed about the importance of a strict dietary regimen, full compliance cannot be ascertained mainly due to the different socio-cultural habits and the absence of the practice of calculating the calorific value of the diet.”
He’s not the only child who has resorted to weight loss measures amid the world’s growing obesity crisis.
Ashley Hamilton, from ,, appeared on earlier this year where she revealed her young Sophia, 11, was using Wegovy.
Explaining how Sophia had gone from 11st 7lb to 10st 3lb, she said it “wasn’t hard at all” to let her use them.
She said: “[I use them] and when Sophia came to me and asked if this would work for her I told her yes, but we have to get your blood work done and your labs done to make sure there is an underlying problem, because if there was nothing showing right then that is something that we would’ve said, ‘Okay, this is diet and exercise type of thing’.”
He was subjected to LSG for his morbid obesity and associated obstructive sleep apnea and bowing of legs. LSG was performed after investigations ruled out hereditary or genetic causes of obesity.
Surgeons who performed weight loss surgeon on a toddler
Ashley then told The Daily Mail : “On the first day of term, she asked to share a picture of her doing an ‘outfit of the day’ on my . In the past, she’d refused to even have a photo taken.”
Meanwhile, Lexi, 12, from , USA, appeared in an Australian Dateline documentary with her mum Brandy after she had 80 per cent of her stomach removed aged 12.
However, it didn’t fully work so now she was considering going onto Ozempic.
Lexi’s mum said she had a malfunctioning gene called MC4R which was responsible for food intake and weight control, explaining it kept her constantly hungry.
I was so terrified that she was going to end up one of those 600-pound people by the time she was 20.
Brandy - mum to a child who had bariatric surgery
She told the documentary: “The paediatrician at the time said stop feeding her McDonalds. I said ‘I’m not.’
“I was so terrified that she was going to end up one of those 600-pound people by the time she was 20.”
Lexi added: “Kids have sent me pictures of food and told me don’t eat my phone and stuff like [that]. It’s really bad.”
Hospital consultant, obesity expert and paediatric surgeon Evan Nadler, from Washington, USA, has performed more than 800 and surgeries on children and adolescents. His youngest patients are four and five.
“These children suffered from rare genetic disorders that involved rapid and extensive weight gain in very early life,” he told The Sun.
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Discussing the report, he called it “spot on.”
“Calling children (or anyone) obese has such a negative connotation these days,” he says. “So we refer to people as having obesity or in this case it would be ‘children with obesity’.
“It is really important to empower the patient by mentioning them first, and the overall message is that ‘obesity is a disease, and not a lifestyle choice.’”
He said that it wasn’t just a case of “nature or nurture” which made people overweight. “There is an entire field which studies the interaction between the external environment and people’s genes,” he explained.
The 7 fat jab mistakes stopping you losing weight
WHILE have been hailed as a breakthrough in helping tackle Britain’s obesity crisis, some users say they’re missing out on their waist-shrinking powers – and it could be down to some simple mistakes…
POOR PENMANSHIP
Many people don’t correctly use the injection pen, according to Ana Carolina Goncalves, a pharmacist at Pharmica in Holborn, London.
Make sure to prime your weight loss pen correctly, as per the instructions. If nothing comes out, try again, and if it still doesn’t work, switch the needle or ask a pharmacist for help.
It’s also recommended to rotate injection sites between the abdomen, thigh and upper arm to avoid small lumps of fat under the skin.
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
Make sure you’re using the jabs on the most effective day of your schedule.
For example, taking the jab right before a takeaway or party won’t stop you from indulging, says Jason Murphy, head of pharmacy and weight loss expert at Chemist4U.
Weight loss injections need time to build up in your system, so if you’re planning for a heavier weekend, inject your dose mid-week.
MAKING A MEAL OF IT
You may not feel the urge to overeat at mealtimes due to the jabs. But skipping meals altogether can backfire, says Dr David Huang, director of clinical innovation at weight loss service Voy.
If a person is extremely malnourished, their body goes into emergency conservation mode, where their metabolism slows down.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A key mistake using weight loss jabs is not eating the right foods.
As well as cutting out and , Dr Vishal Aggarwal, Healthium Clinics recommends focusing on your protein intake.
DE-HYDRATION STATIONS
Dehydration is a common side effect of weight loss injections. But it’s important to say hydrated in order for your body to function properly.
Dr Crystal Wyllie, GP at Asda Online Doctor, says hydration supports metabolism, digestion, and can reduce side effects like , nausea and .
MOVE IT, MOVE IT
It can be easy to see the jabs as a quick fix, but stopping altogether is a mistake, says Mital Thakrar, a pharmacist from Well Pharmacy.
Exercise helps maintain muscle mass and help shape the body as you lose weight, which may be crucial if you’re experiencing excess skin.
QUIT IT
While there’s the tendency to ditch the jabs as soon as you reach your desired weight, stopping them too soon can cause rapid regain.
Mr Thakrar recommends building habits like healthier eating during treatment for sustaining results.
“So while ultra-processed foods are definitely a contributor, they clearly don’t affect everyone the same way.
“Children with obesity aren’t eating more of those foods, they are just either genetically more susceptible to the adverse effects of UPFs or even have had epigenetically modified genes passed onto them from their parents.”
And while, his background is in surgery he is pro-weight loss jabs. “Many children have received with excellent results,” he said.
“All obesity treatment for children with obesity should be considered as the old myths that diet and exercise will treat childhood obesity or that the children will grow out of it have been debunked for decades now.
“It’s a huge positive, but only if semaglutide [Ozempic’s off-brand name] is used under the supervision of a pediatric provider. The drug and others like it have gotten a bad name due to people using it without proper medical supervision or obtaining it from compounding pharmacies or the ‘gray-market’.”
It is really important to empower the patient by mentioning them first, and the overall message is that ‘obesity is a disease, and not a lifestyle choice.
Dr Evan Nadler
There’s so far no scientific evidence of how weight loss jabs impact children as it’s not been studied. But parents should not give them to their children but speak to their GP if they are concerned about their children’s weight.
The NHS has a web page dedicated to helping parents if they feel their child is overweight. It suggests activities including less screen time, exercising, easting balanced meals and getting moving.
The Sun contacted NHS England regarding their use of bariatric surgery.
Unicef has warned there’s more obese than unweight children 
