One of the most commonly performed surgeries in children is a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Over half a million children in the United States have their tonsils or tonsils and adenoids removed each year. There is now some evidence to link childhood obesity with the removal of the tonsils. This hypothesis is a direct result of analysis done on studies over the past four decades.

These studies do not show a direct link between the surgery itself and weight gain, although has raised some concern that the missing tonsils may in fact have something to do with it. Of course many specialists feel that childhood obesity is primarily due to lifestyle choices and much more research is needed to find the link between other contributing factors and obesity.

From 1970 to 2009 nine studies were performed on 800 children up to the age of 18 who had had their tonsils removed with and without adenoids removed. In these studies it was concluded that there was a definite pattern of weight gain in children after the removal of their tonsils. This seemed to be the case whether the children were overweight before the surgery or not.

As with many other studies being looked at pertaining to the cause of childhood obesity, this one is inconclusive as a direct link. Older generations have had their tonsils removed for one reason or another and have not seen drastic increases in weight gain. More research is needed to determine if this is in deed a contributing factor or just another coincidence.