ISSN 1662-4009 (online)

ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology (2018) 15 15.1 | DOI: 10.1530/ey.15.15.1

Institute of Health & Society, Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK


To read the full abstract: J Public Health (Oxf) 2017:1-9

Our efforts to control overweight and obesity in children are severely hampered because most of their parents (and indeed most of their health professionals!) cannot visually recognise an obese child, let alone one who is overweight. This is particularly difficult at around the ages 4-6 years old because this coincides with the BMI nadir on growth charts – all children are naturally thinner at around this age. Some authors have previously produced line drawings, but those are crude and do not relate to BMI measures or centiles.

Here, the authors used 3-dimensional photonic images of hundreds of children at ages 4-5 and 10-11 years old, which are the ages of the UK national child measurement programme. They then mapped these onto a range of realistic ‘skins’ or ‘morphs’, to generate computer-predicted images that correspond accurately to any specific child BMI centile. Finally, they used qualitative focus groups and interviews to choose the most ‘human like’ and acceptable morphs and to discuss their usefulness and acceptability. They say that these images could be used in various ways: to help parental acceptance of their child’s overweight/obese status; to explore self-image and self-evaluation of body image; and to inform and engage other caregivers and health professionals. You can see the charts here: https://academic.oup.com/view-large/figure/112151669/fdx129f02.tif

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