Parents don't know if their child is overweight

Research from Australia suggests that more than four in ten parents don't know if their children are under or overweight and because of this they are unlikely to help their children correct their weight and the children themselves tend to under or overestimate their body size.

The research was conducted by Pene Schmidt, who also found that the percentage of over or underweight children in the group that she studied varied according to whether or not she used body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference. BMI measurements showed more children to be overweight than waist circumference measurements.

The study also found that children who were not classified as being of normal weight were more likely to under or overestimate their body size; and a small percentage of parents thought their overweight children were underweight or their underweight children were overweight.