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Many Parents Blind To Children's Obesity

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The Associated Press

Published: December 25, 2007

DETROIT - A startling number of parents may be in denial about their youngsters' weight.

A survey found that many Americans whose children are obese do not see them that way.

That is worrisome because obese children run the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol problems and other ailments commonly found in adults. Also, overweight children are likely to grow up to be overweight adults.

"It suggests to me that parents of younger kids believe that their children will grow out of their obesity, or something will change at older ages," said Matthew M. Davis, a University of Michigan professor of pediatrics and internal medicine who led the study, released this month.

Among parents with an obese or extremely overweight child age 6 to 11, 43 percent said their child was "about the right weight," 37 percent responded "slightly overweight," and 13 percent said "very overweight." Others said "slightly underweight."

For those with an obese child age 12 to 17, the survey found more awareness that weight was a problem. Fifty-six percent said their child was "slightly overweight," 31 percent responded "very overweight," 11 percent said "about the right weight" and others said "slightly underweight."

The survey of 2,060 adults, conducted by Internet research firm Knowledge Networks, collected height and weight measurements on the children from their parents, then used that to calculate body mass index.

When a child's BMI was higher than the 95th percentile for children who are the same age and gender, the child was considered obese.

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