A Chilling Suggestion From BORIS

'BORIS' is the acronym for the Swedish Childhood Obesity Treatment Register. Academics, from Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, used its data. They wanted to further assess the suggestion that, having a high Body Mass Index (BMI) in adolescence, increases the risk of developing Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is a condition, where progressive scarring of neuronal (nerve) myelin sheaths, can lead to motor and sensory impairments. It obviously can (and does) produce serious disability in later life (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/28/obese-children-multiple-sclerosis-study). In the study, the academics compared 21,600 obese children (who had started treatment at an average age of 11), with more than 100,000 'controls' (children with 'normal' BMIs). These two cohorts were followed for up to 6 years. Although the tracking time is currently very limited, the data suggests obese children are twice as likely to develop early onset MS. The age of MS onset (23) was, however, the same in the two groups. This study reinforces the view that childhood obesity can have lasting health impacts into adulthood. This message needs amplifying!