Obesity decreases children’s quality of life

Australian researchers have found that almost a quarter of Australian children are suffering from a decrease in the quality of their lives because they are overweight.

Melbourne’s Murdoch Childrens Research Institute has found children get teased, can not compete in sport and miss school because of their weight.Researcher Joanne Williams tracked 2,000 children aged between five and 10 for the study.”We found that quality of life actually starts to decline as soon as children are over the average weight and it continues to decline the heavier they are,” she said.The study discovered low self-esteem and poor health became an issue as soon as children were above the accepted weight level.(Source: ABC Health News, January 2005)