suffer from not only physical but also psychosocial issues

Not for the first time, researchers have shown that children with weight problems are much more likely to be singled out by bullies in the playground compared to their normal weight chums. The new study done by a team of researchers at Trinity College in Dublin looked at over 8,500 nine year old boys and girls and asked the parents as well as the children a range of questions.

Ireland is catching up with the rest of Europe with regards to very high obesity rate in both adults and children and this is leading to higher rates of serious obesity related illness. This new study which was presented at a conference for the Society for Academic Primary Care also confirmed that the obesity problem in Ireland was more concentrated in girls but that the boys seemed to be suffering from more obesity related illnesses.

The study also highlighted that overweight and obese children were much more likely to suffer from not only physical but also psychosocial issues as they got older which were connected to the bullying and the social stigma associated with their weight.

If you speak to practically any overweight person who was overweight as a child they will tell you that at some point they were made to feel stupid, lazy and an outcast because of their weight problem.  Overweight children will often clam up when asked about bullying and try and ignore it but as a parent you should be looking out for the warning signs such as being reclusive and generally less sociable than before.

It is very difficult to change eating habits in older children but the longer you leave it the more difficult it will become.  Young children can be easily distracted from food and if you make it difficult for them to eat unhealthy snacks you will be doing them a big favour not only in the short term but also in the long term.