According to the study conducted by the researchers at the Loughborough University it was found that screening the weight of school children could affect the children psychologically and result in eating disorders. Initially to create awareness about childhood obesity the government proposed tests in schools in England to measure children's body mass index (BMI). But the academics say that the initiative could lead to overweight children being bullied by is classmates.
The Loughborough researchers Emma Rich, John Evans and Rachel Allwood, from the school of sport and exercise sciences said that children are already under relentless pressure about their bodies. In some schools in UK inspection of lunchbox are carried out. But the researchers feel that this would result in what is called the fat laps meaning that children would require to run around the school field during lunch breaks.Researchers feel that Body mass index is very inaccurate as they have conducted studies among young women suffering from eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Dr Rich said that the schools are increasingly pressurizing the children to monitor their diets, body shapes and levels of physical activity, which can unintentionally cause children a lot of worries. This would result in traumatizing experiences of being weighed in schools, which led to them becoming increasingly unhappy with their bodies. The Loughborough team says that it is still unclear about the relationship between weight, health and physical activity. Hence in conclusion the researchers say that on should not relate size, shape and weight with physical activity.
