Health Matters: Overweight Children

Many overweight children don't seem to portray themselves that way, according to the latest report from the Center's for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly one third of children and teens ages 8 and 15 put themselves in the wrong weight category. That's about 9 million young people in total spanning from 2005 through 2012. Nearly 9 out of 10 normal to average weight children perceived themselves as normal. But more than three quarters of overweight young people and more than 40 percent of obese kids had conflicting body image issues and did not realize they had a weight problem. According to the report, it may be difficult to change to healthier behaviors if you don't see yourself as unhealthy. Previous studies have found that parents of overweight or obese children are also unaware that their child is out of the normal weight range. The CDC has resources to help. You can keep track of your child's body mass index by visiting cdc.gov/healthy-weight.