Parents often do not notice the problems with obesity in their children. Due to the fact that such children are becoming more and more, their appearance becomes familiar, and adults often do not show concern, even if the child has obvious obesity. Meanwhile, excess weight in childhood threatens serious health problems both in the remote and in the short term.

This work was carried out by scientists from the medical school in Plymouth, England. They interviewed 300 children at the age of seven and their parents, trying to find out whether they pay attention to the fact that the child has extra pounds. "A third of mothers and 57 percent of fathers believed that their obese children are healthy," said Alison Jeffery, one of the authors of the work.

If the child was overweight, but the concept of "obesity" he did not fit yet, only a quarter of parents were aware of the problem, even in case of obesity, 40 percent of parents did not pay attention to it. Also, scientists found that one-third of women with excess body weight and half of men with this problem complained that their weight roughly corresponds to the normal.

Meanwhile, as scientists point out, the problem of obesity in childhood is very acute. In the future, obesity will lead to diseases of the heart and blood vessels, and even at an early age can cause, for example, type 2 diabetes, which was previously found almost exclusively in adults.

The authors presented the data of this study at a conference on diabetes mellitus, which is taking place these days in Birmingham,.

Medicus. En.