The Doctor who I heard (albeit only a snippet) was asking for this matter to be considered as abuse when other attempts at resolving the situation had failed. He did state that the majority of parents with children with obese children did respond to education, but for those that didn't he wanted the parental behavior to be viewed as abusive in the same way that a parent who fails to provide a child with adequate food. His arguments being both children are at risk of serious health problems.
I think his point had some validity but, there seem to be some significant differences between the two situations. Where a child is not fed, the child is a passive victim, where the child is obese they are usually a participative victim � ie the child is not force fed or prevented from moving around. That is not to say the parent does not have responsibilities but there actions may be more of omission than commission. Additionally there is not the pressure/temptation from the food industry such as McD�s or Supermarkets to tempt you and your child into not buying food as there is to consume fast, fatty, relatively cheap kid branded food. So I am not sure what advantage there is in terms of helping such families as describing the parental behavior as abusive. I would imagine that this problem generally like most social health problems, smoking, excessive use of alcohol is more wide spread in the less economically advantaged groups. Therefore education and promotion of positive health care would seem the best way forward unless it�s a case of so what it�s not me or my family so I don�t give a toss.