London - Half of parents with an overweight child are in denial about their child’s size – thinking they are slimmer than they actually are – according to research.
They tended to underestimate their child’s excess weight or dismiss the problem as “puppy fat”, despite soaring rates of obesity.
Others with an obese child thought their son or daughter was normal or slightly heavy, while one in seven parents whose child was a healthy weight worried they were too skinny.
Alyssa Lundahl, who led the study at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the US, said parents who failed to recognise the problem were letting their children down.
“We know that parents play a very crucial role in preventing childhood obesity,” she said.
“When parents’ perceptions are corrected, they do start to take action and encourage their children to become more active and maybe turn off the TV and go outside and play.”
The research involved a review of 69 existing studies worldwide between 1990 and 2012, of more than 15 000 children aged two to 18. It found 51 percent of parents with overweight or obese children underestimated their child’s size.
In each case, researchers asked parents to assess their child’s weight using pictures or rating scales.
They then measured the children to determine whether they would be classified as overweight or obese based on where they fell in Body Mass Index growth charts.
Parents of younger children aged between two and five are less likely to perceive them as overweight or obese, said the study, published online in the journal Pediatrics.
It also found that parents who are overweight are less likely to accurately assess their children’s weight.
Yet children with at least one obese parent are more likely to become obese themselves. In England almost a third of ten to 11-year-olds, and more than a fifth of four to five-year-olds, are overweight or obese.
Around three-quarters of obese children are likely to remain that way into adulthood, putting them at risk of conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. - Daily Mail