the UK has over 30 percent of its children either overweight or obese

You would think that it would be pretty easy for a parent to see whether a child was obese or not but a new survey shows that more than half of them cannot! The study was done by interviewing nearly 1,200 parents and showing them digitally altered photographs of children who were either of a normal weight, overweight or clinically obese.

The results showed that the parents, all of whom had children under the age of fifteen, were more often than not unable to recognize obesity. In fact 51 percent of parents shown obese children did not identify them as obese with parents from London being the least likely to see obesity.

This study highlights a very important part in the battle to beat childhood obesity in the United Kingdom because it shows that not only do children need to be educated but also and maybe more importantly the parents. Parents are probably the single most important influence on the weight of the child and if they themselves cannot recognize obesity there is very little hope that the child will grow up maintaining a healthy weight.

Parents are often very sensitive about the weight of their children and refused to admit that there is anything wrong with them especially as they see it as a criticism of their parenting skills. Nevertheless doctors talk about how very often the challenge of childhood obesity must be dealt with by speaking to the parents rather than the children.

With the UK having over 30 percent of its children being either overweight [BMI 25+] or obese [BMI 30+] it is essential that parents are taught how to recognize obesity and how to deal with it.  Many parents when confronted with their overweight children describe the extra fat as just puppy fat but other research we have published at Ukmedix News shows that more often than not the puppy fat is there to stay and does not disappear naturally with growing up.

The National Health Service in the UK has introduced the Child Measurement Scheme which is designed to highlight obesity and come up with incentives to get children to lose weight.