Many Overweight, Obese Teens Don't Think They Have a Weight Problem, Study Says

Teenagers who are overweight and obese do not think they have any weight problems, a study conducted by Cancer Research UK has found out.

Culling data from over 5,000 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15 show that over a third of these teenagers think that their weight is just fine, BBC reports.

The kids were asked to fill up a form and check whether they think their Body Mass Index (BMI) was either "too heavy," "about right" or "too light."  Of the respondents' actual weight measurements, 73 percent were within the normal weight range, 20 percent were overweight and seven percent were obese.

However, 40 percent of those in the overweight range believed that their weight was just "about right," seven percent of the normal-weight teens said they think they belong to the "too heavy" category while 10 percent said that they were too light.

The results revealed that eight out of 10 teenagers have correctly identified themselves as within the normal range, but then there is still a cause for concern, the experts said.

"Young people who think they're overweight when they're not can sometimes develop devastating eating disorders, so we're delighted that most of the normal-weight teenagers had a realistic view of their body size," said Professor Jane Wardle, one of the study's authors, via Daily Mail.

"But we need to find effective ways of helping too-heavy teenagers slim down and maintain a healthier weight, and it's vitally important that we find out whether it helps if they are more aware of their weight status. There are no easy answers," the professor added.

Teenagers who are overweight but believe that they are not have bigger chances of carrying over this weight problem into their adulthood; thus, run the risk of developing cancer. These kids then need to find support that will help them have a more active lifestyle and a healthier diet change. The researchers also stressed that awareness of their weight problem is a necessary first step. "Making these changes as teenagers could help protect them from cancer as adults," said Wardle via U.S. News.

One of the ways the public can help is by teaching the kids what obesity realistically looks like. "Mass media coverage of obesity often uses images of severely obese individuals, which could give the impression that medical criteria for overweight and obesity require exceptionally high body weights," the research noted, according to The Guardian.