Parents not detecting obesity in their kids as it is so common

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 17 Mar 2004 - 0:00 PST


There are so many obese youngsters now that parents are less able to identify obesity in their own children. If their kids look like lots of other kids they must be OK, parents think.

This is according to a study carried out in the by scientists at the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, UK.

Obese children are more prone to developing type 2 diabetes. They are also more likely to become obese adults. Obese adults suffer from a variety of illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancers.

Alison Jeffery, one of the scientists who carried out this research said 'A third of the mothers and 57 percent of dads actually saw their obese child as normal. Quite a few parents are not recognizing it as a problem. They are not recognizing the health risks either."

Parents' idea of what is a normal weight is influenced by the kids they see around, many of these kids are fatter than they were twenty years ago.

Jeffrey questioned 300 seven-year old kids and their mums and dads. She asked them about their perceptions of body size.

Of the parents who were obese/overweight 50% of dads thought they were about the right weight and 30% of mothers thought their weight was about right.

When a child is of normal weight most parents recognised the kid had no weight problem. When the kid was overweight (not obese) 25% saw this. When the kid was obese 40% of parents thought the child was fine.

In the UK, child obesity is growing at an alarming rate. Experts think it is due to inactivity, overeating and bad eating habits (eating the wrong foods).

Comment by Christian Nordqvist
Editor of Medical News Today

I have two children, boys, one is 10 and the other is 17. My wife and I have system which they are quite happy with. It is a system everyone in the family adheres to:

We all consume five lots of fruit or vegetables per day. I prefer the fruit, so I eat five pieces of fruit a day. My wife prefers vegetables. The kids like both.

We eat well balanced meals six and a half days a week. Monday to Sunday morning. During those days anything which is not healthy is locked away.

Sunday afternoon is do-what-you-like part of the week. I will drink wine and eat anything I like, chocolates, cakes and high carb and high fat products. The children can go and get sweets (USA the term is Candy). This Sunday afternoon can be traded in for a half day session on another day (birthday party, a party or some other event).

We must all do four sessions a week of physical activity. This does not mean going mad in a gym. One session means at least 20 minutes doing something that gets you just slightly out of breath. This could be speed walking, running, walking at a good pace to the shops and back.

I find this has worked well. We have kept it up for nearly two years.

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