The number of overweight children in the UK continues to rise with just under one in five between the ages of two and ten being diagnosed as obese. Children who are overweight are more likely to develop diabetes or heart disease in later life and are more likely to be obese as adults.
As if that wasn't enough to contend with, obese children are often the victims of bullies and find it hard to participate fully in school sports and other physical activities.
Therefore it's vital for parents to be extra vigilant about how much weight their children are putting on and to encourage healthy eating and a physically active lifestyle to ensure problems don't occur in the future. The new Healthy Weight Calculator provides practical information about how to manage this.
The NHS Choices website provides the tools so that within a few clicks you'll know if your child is overweight. The site also offers the facilty for adults to check their BMI (Body Mass Index) so there's no excuse not to shed a few pounds if you need to as well!
To try the site just weigh the child and measure her height then go to: www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Healthyweightcalculator.aspx?Tag=