Irish children obsessed with being overweight
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
SOME 30 per cent of Irish children of normal weight wish they could lose weight, an academic study has shown.
The study on children's food carried out by researchers at University College Dublin and published in The Irish Times recently found that significant numbers of children between nine and 12 years thought they were too heavy and needed to lose weight.
As many as 18 per cent of the normal-weight children said they had already tried to lose weight.
Conversely, half of the obese children in the study said they did not feel the need to lose weight.
The data on 278 children - 135 boys and 143 girls - were collected between 2003 and 2004, but have only just been analysed, Dr Aileen McGloin told The Irish Times.
The children were asked if they would like to be heavier, lighter or the same weight.
They were also asked if they had tried to lose weight before.
"To my knowledge there is no data on this in Ireland before, so we have no idea how much this has changed in recent years or was it always like that.
I suppose anecdotally you'd say no, that people of that age never thought about their weight before," McGloin was quoted as saying.
McGloin said it was worrying that half the obese children did not want to lose weight.
"These results indicate that lack of awareness of weight status may be a barrier for obesity management in a large population of this age group," she told the newspaper.
"Equally, normal-weight children might benefit from reassurance that their weight is healthy."
McGloin's research showed that 30 per cent of children classed as of normal weight wanted to lose weight, compared to 39 per cent of overweight children and 45 per cent of obese children.
Meanwhile, 63 per cent of normal weight children wanted to stay the same, compared to 61 per cent of overweight and 52 per cent of obese children.
Some 18 per cent of normal weight children had tried to lose weight, while 19 per cent of overweight and 39 per cent of obese children had also tried to slim down.
The older, female, obese children were more likely to have tried dieting, the research indicated.
DPA
The study on children's food carried out by researchers at University College Dublin and published in The Irish Times recently found that significant numbers of children between nine and 12 years thought they were too heavy and needed to lose weight.
As many as 18 per cent of the normal-weight children said they had already tried to lose weight.
Conversely, half of the obese children in the study said they did not feel the need to lose weight.
The data on 278 children - 135 boys and 143 girls - were collected between 2003 and 2004, but have only just been analysed, Dr Aileen McGloin told The Irish Times.
The children were asked if they would like to be heavier, lighter or the same weight.
They were also asked if they had tried to lose weight before.
"To my knowledge there is no data on this in Ireland before, so we have no idea how much this has changed in recent years or was it always like that.
I suppose anecdotally you'd say no, that people of that age never thought about their weight before," McGloin was quoted as saying.
McGloin said it was worrying that half the obese children did not want to lose weight.
"These results indicate that lack of awareness of weight status may be a barrier for obesity management in a large population of this age group," she told the newspaper.
"Equally, normal-weight children might benefit from reassurance that their weight is healthy."
McGloin's research showed that 30 per cent of children classed as of normal weight wanted to lose weight, compared to 39 per cent of overweight children and 45 per cent of obese children.
Meanwhile, 63 per cent of normal weight children wanted to stay the same, compared to 61 per cent of overweight and 52 per cent of obese children.
Some 18 per cent of normal weight children had tried to lose weight, while 19 per cent of overweight and 39 per cent of obese children had also tried to slim down.
The older, female, obese children were more likely to have tried dieting, the research indicated.
DPA
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