Overweight children are less popular
- Overweight children 1.7 times more likely to be disliked than their thin peers
- ‘Fat shaming’ was blamed for youngsters being excluded from friendship circles
- Isolation raises risk of loneliness, depression, poor eating habits and illness
- Obesity should be integrated more into anti-bullying campaigns, says expert
Colin Fernandez Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail
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Overweight children have fewer friends and are more disliked than their thinner schoolmates, a study found.
Fatter children are also more likely to have unreciprocated friendships – thinking other children are their friends when the feeling is not mutual.
‘Fat-shaming’ – insulting or bullying children because of their weight is causing obese children to be treated a social outcasts, the researchers claimed.
This can create a vicious circle which can lead to further overeating, the researchers warned, and anti-bullying strategies need to take into account anti-fat prejudice in schools.
Fatter children are more likely to have unreciprocated friendships – thinking other children are their friends when the feeling is not mutual
Researchers said that as well as the negative impact on physical health, being overweight or obese is damaging to children’s mental health was well, increasing their chances of depression in later life.
How many children are overweight?
In the UK, around 1 in 5 children children are classed as overweight, with a similar number – 17 per cent – in the US.
The study by the University of South California looked at 504 children under 12 in the Netherlands, whose body mass was measured.
They were also asked to list their friends and enemies in their class.
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The researchers, writing in PLOS ONE, found that overweight children listed as many people in the friend category as children with healthy weight.
But they were 1.7 times more likely to be disliked, and 1.2 times more likely to dislike their peers.
On average, children were listed as a friend by five of their classmates and as an enemy by two.
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Parents could be shown pictures of their overweight children as fat adults to shock them into tackling obesity.
Newcastle University experts developed software that shows what will happen if youngsters continue to pile on the pounds.
The programme, which is backed by the Department of Health and could be rolled out across the NHS, has already been shown to reduce a child’s weight gain.
Experts are increasingly worried that obesity has become ‘normalised’ in Britain – with 20 per cent of children starting primary school overweight, and 33 per cent overweight by the time they start secondary school at 11.
However, the overweight children typically were considered a friend by just four classmates and were disliked by three.
‘Our finding is alarming’
Kayla de la Haye, lead author of the study said: ‘Our finding is alarming because if we continue to have social environments where fat shaming is the norm, these kids will continue to be ostracised.
‘Those adverse interactions increase the risk of loneliness, depression, poor eating habits and illness.’
She added: ‘Unfortunately, it seems overweight children tend to have fewer friends and be friends with less popular kids who also tend to be overweight.’
Explaining the negative effects of ‘fat-shaming’ she said: ‘Research by others has shown people who chronically feel isolated, lonely or socially disconnected experience greater inflammation and reduced viral suppression.
‘We’re not sure if that’s at play here, but a consistent body of research shows that negative social relationships can go under the skin and affect health.’
Childhood obesity across the world
Worldwide, childhood obesity increased by 31 percent in a little over two decades with about 42 million overweight or obese children in 2013, according to the World Health Organization.
In the United States, the number of obese children has more than tripled since the 1970s.
Around 1 in 5 school-aged children are obese – about 17 percent of all children in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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