9 in 10 mothers with overweight children don’t think they’re fat
MORE than nine in ten mothers with overweight children think they are ‘normal’.
And four in ten whose children are actually obese assume they are ‘about right.’
The findings, from a major NHS survey, suggest parents are unwittingly fuelling the obesity epidemic – as they don’t realise anything is wrong with their children.
Youngsters are also unaware of their size, with four in ten who are either overweight or obese thinking they are ‘about right’.
Only last month Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies recently warned how being fat had become ‘ normalised’ and criticised parents for handing out snacks.
Speaking at a health conference in London, she highlighted how some mothers mistakenly assumed children were skinny if they could see their ribs.
These latest figures come from NHS Digital’s Health Survey for England, which involved 8,034 adults, and 5,714 children up to the age of 15.
They also reveal how the weight of an average man has increased by 12 pounds in 20 years, from 12st 7lb in 1995 to 13st 5lb today.
Meanwhile, the average woman has enlarged by nine pounds over the same time from 10st 8lb to 11st 3lb.
Some 68 per cent of adults were either overweight or obese alongside 28 per cent of children.
Alison Cox, director of cancer prevention at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘This excessive weight is putting the NHS under enormous strain and the health of the nation at risk.
‘Being overweight or obese is the second largest preventable cause of cancer after smoking, so it’s important that people are given a helping hand to maintain a healthy weight.
‘Making small changes in eating, drinking and being physically active that you can stick to in the longterm is a good way to reach a healthy weight and stay there.’
Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘Sadly, the majority of parents’ perceptions of normal weight are long gone. ‘And who can be surprised? ‘Doting mothers are only too willing to believe that their kids are not part of that fat crowd. But it’s a belief that is misplaced.
‘Tragically, health professionals often compound the problem by finding it uncomfortable to raise weight issues.’
The Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of over 30 medical organisations, said in a statement: ‘Obesity is still an urgent public health epidemic costing our national health service billions of pounds every year. Prevalence hasn’t changed much but the majority of adults remain worryingly obese or overweight.
‘As our waistlines continue to increase, so do the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other devastating health conditions.
‘We must take bold action now by bringing in measures like the soft drinks industry levy, reducing the sugar, salt and fat from everyday foods and restricting junk food marketing to children.’
The figures also show that only 22 per cent of children are doing the recommended amount of exercise of an hour a day.
This has barely changed from 21 per cent in 2012, when the same question was asked, despite a series of Government campaigns. The Government was heavily criticised over the summer for publishing a watered- down obesity strategy which was too soft on the junk food industry.
It did not include any measures to force companies to reduce sugar and fat levels from products including biscuits, breakfast cereals and yoghurts.
And although ministers are bringing in a sugar tax on soft drinks in April 2018, it will be up to manufacturers how to pass it on to the public.
Professor Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said the findings were of ‘great concern.’
‘The worrying truth is that families and society at large are simply becoming oblivious to obesity because it has become so common.’