According to a study, four out of ten overweight and obese teenagers are unaware that they are fat.
Researchers asked 5,000 teenagers from the age of 13 to 15 whether they thought they were too heavy, just about right or too light. The researchers then checked the teenagers' answers with their body mass index (BMI) to see whether their perception matched to what was real. The study also found that 40% of obese and overweight teenagers thought that their weight were right.
Sarah Jackson, lead author of the study said, ““Programmes about overweight people tend to show very obese people. Some teenagers who see these images probably think that that is what an overweight person looks like, so they might not realise if they are slightly overweight.”
The study found that 73% of teenagers had a BMI within the normal range, while 20% were overweight and 7% were obese. More than 80% of teenagers who were of the normal-weight had correctly said that they were in the right weight, while 10% thought there were too light and 7% thought they were too heavy. The study also showed that girls were more likely to think that they were too heavy, compared to boys.
Experts have warned that the size of children put them at a high level of risk of developing cancer.
