Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition
Offering a Comprehensive Approach to Weight Management
Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition
At the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, we offer families a comprehensive approach to weight management. The Center has programs for both the prevention and treatment of overweight children.
Academic Pediatric Association (APA) Health Care Delivery Award
Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS, received the 2021 Health Care Delivery Award on behalf of The Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition.
The Award recognizes innovative, effective programs that support health care in a teaching setting.
About the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition
The Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition offers a comprehensive approach to weight management in children, including programs for both prevention and treatment.
In collaboration with other Ohio experts in nutrition, the Center works with physicians to present the Ounce of Prevention program to parents, providing a stepwise approach to establishing healthful food and activity habits early in life. As part of its commitment to prevention, the Center works closely with the Healthy and Fit Coalition to provide a coordinated approach to obesity in Central Ohio, with Action for Healthy Kids, a national and state coalition to optimize Ohio's schools in terms of nutrition and activity, with the United Way Health Vision Council, as well as with several other local organizations and agencies.
For children who are already overweight, the center offers family-based Medical Weight Management Programs, New U Flex, New U Weekly and New U Jr. covering everyday diet and fitness education to re-establish a more healthy weight. For those who have medical complications related to their weight, a more in-depth, long-term program is provided.
Ultimately, some children's complications may necessitate a surgical approach. The Center offers three options for those who meet the criteria, one using the traditional gastric bypass surgery to decrease stomach size and limit daily food intake; another uses the adjustable gastric band procedure which, through surgical placement of an inflatable cuff, circles the stomach to limit its size. A third procedure is known as gastric sleeve surgery and involves removing a large part of the stomach, and the remainder is closed to make a tube-like “sleeve."
Our Team
Our team of experts strives to guide children toward a healthier lifestyle.
Ihuoma U. Eneli
Ihuoma Eneli, MD. MS. FAAP, is Director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children's Hospital. She is a board certified general pediatrician and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Marc P. Michalsky
Marc P. Michalsky, MD, is Professor of Clinical Surgery and Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and serves as Surgical Director for the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Our Locations
At the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, we offer a comprehensive approach to weight management for children 2 years and older. We offer programs for both the prevention and treatment of overweight children in several locations.
Meet Our Patients
At Nationwide Children's Hospital, we realize that emotional support is every bit as important as medical treatment. That’s why we want you to meet some of our patients who, like you, are dealing with the daily challenges of managing their weight.
Resources
Resources for Families
We have compiled helpful resources for parents and children including a medical glossary and articles about nutrition.
Resources for Professionals
The Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition has developed several tools intended to provide primary care physicians with practical guidance on the approach to the obese child.
Online Information Sessions
These free sessions provide an overview of the bariatric surgery process at your pace. In our series of short videos, Marc Michalsky, MD, discusses the three types of weight loss surgery available for teens to combat obesity and the benefits, risks, advantages and disadvantages of each. Take advantage of our new online information sessions to start learning about bariatric surgery today!
Conditions We Treat
- Acanthosis Nigricans
- Anxiety
- Asthma and Reactive Airway Disease (RAD) (Wheezing)
- Bipolar Disorder
- BMI Greater Than 95%
- Diabetes: Type II
- Headaches
- High Cholesterol
- Inactivity
- Obesity-related Joint Pain
- Overweight
- Pediatric Obesity
- Sleep Apnea
