Generation 'fat-blind': More than a third of obese teenagers think their weight is 'about right', study warns

  • Majority of normal-weight pupils correctly felt they were the right weight 
  • But 40% of obese teenagers said they believed they are the right weight
  • Carrying excess weight increases the risk of 10 different types of cancer
  • Some 7% of normal-weight teenagers thought they were too heavy, and 10% thought they were too light

By Madlen Davies for MailOnline

Published: 08:54 EST, 9 July 2015 | Updated: 09:51 EST, 9 July 2015

An alarming proportion of obese teenagers do not consider themselves overweight, scientists have warned today.

Rather, more than one in three overweight or obese teenagers think their weight is 'about right', a study found.

Researchers used data from 5,000 13 to 15-year-olds who were asked about their weight and if they thought they were 'too heavy', 'about right' or 'too light'.

They then checked their answers against their Body Mass Index (BMI) - to see whether the reality matched the teenagers' perceptions of themselves.

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More than a third of overweight or obese teenagers don't see themselves as being too heavy and think their weight is about right, a study found (file photo)

More than a third of overweight or obese teenagers don't see themselves as being too heavy and think their weight is about right, a study found (file photo)

Almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of the teenagers had a BMI within the normal-weight range.

A fifth (20 per cent) had a BMI in the overweight category and seven per cent were categorised as obese.

Of these, around 40 per cent thought they were about the right weight with very few (0.4 per cent) saying they were too light.

Carrying excess weight increases the risk of up to 10 different types of cancer, including cancers of the breast and bowel.

Overweight teenagers are more likely to become overweight adults at higher risk of cancer. So it's important that young people who are too heavy have support to be more active and make healthy changes to their diet
Julie Sharp, of Cancer Research UK 

It is estimated that in the UK around 18,000 cases of cancer each year in people of all ages are related to excess weight.

The study also showed that more than eight in 10 of the normal-weight teenagers correctly identified themselves as being about the right weight.

A small number of normal-weight adolescents (seven per cent) felt they were too heavy.

Slightly more (10 per cent) thought they were too light, with girls more likely than boys to think of themselves as being too heavy.

Professor Jane Wardle, from the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre at UCL (University College London), said: 'This study was a cause for celebration and concern. 

'Young people who think they're overweight when they're not can sometimes develop devastating eating disorders, so we're delighted that most of the normal-weight teenagers had a realistic view of their body size.

'But we need to find effective ways of helping too-heavy teenagers slim down and maintain a healthier weight, and it's vitally important that we find out whether it helps if they are more aware of their weight status. There are no easy answers.' 

Carrying excess weight increases the risk of up to 10 different types of cancer, including cancers of the breast and bowel (pictured)

Carrying excess weight increases the risk of up to 10 different types of cancer, including cancers of the breast and bowel (pictured)

Julie Sharp, of Cancer Research UK, said: 'Overweight teenagers are more likely to become overweight adults at higher risk of cancer.

'So it's important that young people who are too heavy have support to be more active and make healthy changes to their diet - being aware that they are above a healthy weight could be a first step.

'Making these changes as teenagers could help protect them from cancer as adults.'

The study, by Cancer Research UK, was published in the International Journal of Obesity.

 

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