Diet can be risky and harmful, especially for children. However, a study conducted in England showed that about 27 percent of children in the country are on a diet, and even among children of healthy weight, the dietary age drops to 8 years.
A study in the Archives of Childhood Diseases of the British Medical Journal, which publishes medical publications in England, and covering 34 thousand children, revealed that the rate of children trying to lose weight by dieting increased from 21 percent in 1997 to 27 percent in 2016. .
While it was seen that the number of obese children increased, but at a much slower rate, it was determined that one out of every 7 underweight children was on a diet.
Proportion of dieters by groups;
- 9 to 39.3 percent among overweight children
- 32.9 to 62.6 percent among obese
- Among the weak, it rose from 5.3 percent to 13.6 percent.
It was observed that older children were more inclined to diet than younger children and girls were more inclined to diet than boys, but the gender gap began to close.
Melissa Little, a dietitian from Oxford University, who prepared the research for publication, said, “Not only girls are on a diet, we are seeing an increase in the number of boys dieting,” and added:
“Although some of the older children who diet are overweight, some are already underweight. We need to figure out how to convey the right message about healthy weight.”
worrying
Little states that an unsupervised diet can be dangerous.
In England, in the 2011-12 education period, children’s weights started to be recorded within the scope of the National Child Measurement Program, at the age of 5 when children started kindergarten and at the age of 11 when they finished primary school. Since then, a significant increase in weight loss efforts has been observed.
Researchers say that with this program, some families may have applied for help as a result of awareness, but some children and families tried to lose weight without any help or guidance.
Associate professor of psychology at the University of Reading, Dr. “The significant increase in the number of children who are considered healthy weight expressing a desire to lose weight is worrying,” says Paul Jenkins.