Dieting six-year-olds who reject 'fatties' for friends

One in ten six-year-olds say they have dieted, and three times as many want to be thinner than they are, according to research. "Fear of fat" leads them to reject overweight children as friends and characterise fat people as mean, the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Birmingham was told.

Preoccupation with body shape, weight and dieting is beginning at an ever earlier age, researchers from Birmingham University said.

In one study 90 children - half boys, half girls - between six and eleven were interviewed to find out how satisfied they were with their bodies and whether they had the nutritional knowledge to go on a diet. Overall, 30 per cent said they wanted to be thinner, 23 per cent wanted to lose weight and 10 per cent said they had dieted. No significant difference was found between age group or gender. Nearly one-quarter thought they were fatter than their "ideal" bodyweight and the ideal shape they would choose was underweight.

Shown pictures of different types of food such as lettuce, pasta and chocolate cake, the vast majority could differentiate between fattening and non-fattening foods.

Jackie Blissett, one of the researchers, said: "To be motivated to avoid obesity is a healthy state of mind, but it is not about this any more. It is ... about not being even the slightest bit overweight."

In a study done at Birmingham University, 74 children between aged between five to 10 and shown pictures of people with different body shapes ranked the obese lowest. In an earlier study, 10- and 11-year-olds had been shown to prefer children with missing limbs to those who were fat.

The dislike of obesity was present in five-year-olds, although it grew more marked as the children got older. Given pictures of thin people children described them as "kind", "happy" and "generous". Fat children were described as "mean", "unfriendly" and "bullies".

Rebecca Johnson who was involved in the study, said: "It is very sad that children have got adult cultural ideas of attractiveness from a very early age."