Child obesity warning for parents
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Most parents do not realise their four or five year olds are overweight or obese, a survey has revealed.
Half of the mothers who took part in a study thought that their obese four or five year old was normal weight, while 39% of fathers were no better in recognising obesity.
When it came to overweight children, 75% of mothers and 77% of fathers thought that their child was normal weight, according to the February issue of Acta Paediatrica.
More than 800 parents of 439 children took part in the study, carried out by researchers from the University Medical Centre Groningen in the Netherlands.
“As well as asking them to provide information on their child’s height and weight, they were also asked to provide information on their own vital statistics,” says Professor Pieter Sauer from the Department of Paediatrics.
“We used this to compare the parents’ assessment of their children with their own weight to see if there was any correlation.”
The study showed that mothers and fathers of overweight and obese children were significantly heavier than the parents of normal weight children. Parents were more aware of their own weight. 83% of the overweight mothers and 78% of fathers realised that they were too heavy, as did 98% of the obese mothers and 96% of the obese fathers, it revealed.
Most of the parents did not worry about their child’s weight, but the mothers of obese children were more likely to be concerned than the mothers of normal weight children (44% versus 7%), the research showed.
Professor Sauer added: “It is vital that parents are aware of their children’s weight if we are to prevent them becoming obese in later life.
“Our findings point to the need for health education programmes that encourage parents to recognise what is a normal healthy weight for their children and work with health professionals to tackle any weight problems.”
The Press Association
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