Study on weight perception shows teens do not think they are overweight
Posted on: 11/Jul/2015 10:23:12 AM
A new study, that has been published in the International Journal of Obesity, says that overweight teenagers do not think they are obese. The study was conducted by Cancer Research. Around 5000 children, aged between 13 and 15 were questioned. They were asked if they thought they were a. too heavy b. about right or c. too light. Around 40% of the respondents said they thought they were about right, a few said they thought they were too light.
‘Young people who think they`re overweight when they`re not can sometimes develop devastating eating disorders but they are delighted to know that most of the normal-weight teenagers had a realistic view of their body size... Overweight teenagers were more likely to become overweight adults at higher risk of cancer. It is important that young people who are too heavy have support to be more active and make healthy changes to their diet as making these changes as teenagers could help protect them from cancer as adults’, say experts.
