Weighing children at school increases eating disorder risk, charities warn
Fiona Simpson
Friday, June 25, 2021
Children’s health organisations have warned that restarting a scheme to weigh children in schools could increase young people’s risk of developing eating disorders.
The government has announced that the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) has restarted after being paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The scheme weighs children in reception (aged four and five) and year six (aged 10 and 11) in all state primary schools to alert parents if their children are at risk of developing childhood obesity.
Latest data from the NCMP shows that in 2019/20 9.9 per cent of reception-age children were classed as obese compared with 9.7 per cent in 2018/19 and in year six pupils, that figure rose from 20.2 per cent 2018/19 to 21 per cent the following year.
The National Obesity Forum has said NCMP data due to be released in November will give Boris Johnson “a real jolt”.
Tam Fry, chair of the forum, told The Independent that he believes the number of children classed as overweight “will have gone up”.
Public Health England said it hoped that the programme will allow professionals to learn how the pandemic has affected children and how best to support parents and families to maintain healthier weights.
However, children’s eating disorder charities have warned the programme could lead to “unhealthy weight control behaviours and disordered eating”.
Tom Quinn, director of external affairs at the charity, said: “Many eating disorder clinicians working in children and young people’s eating disorder services have told us how the programme has triggered restricted eating patterns, which has then developed into an eating disorder requiring specialist care.
“At a time when we know that the pandemic has had a devastating impact on people with eating disorders, with children and young people seeking treatment at record highs and with waiting times longer than ever, this is absolutely the wrong move.”
Research from Beat shows that between March and October 2020 calls to the charity’s helpline increased by 97 per cent compared with the same time period the previous year.
Some 28 per cent of people who contacted the helpline cited the Covid-19 pandemic as the possible trigger for relapsing or developing symptoms.
AnyBody, the UK branch of international body image initiative Endangered Bodies, is backing the #PlayNotWeigh campaign calling for the scheme to be scrapped.
It said on Twitter: “Haven't children had to cope with enough stress and anxiety around the pandemic - the large gaps from normal routines and social situations? Do we really need to add anxiety around body image and playground weight comparisons to the mix?”
Community interest company The Body Happy Body Org, which is also backing the campaign, has drafted a letter for parents to opt out of their children taking part in the programme.
In April, a cross-party group of MPs called for a review of the NCMP. As part of its inquiry into body image, the Women and Equalities Committee has called for a review of the programme over concerns it “could hinder the development of a positive body image” in children.
“Academics stated that clinicians consider being weighed in front of people or making a child’s family aware they need to lose weight or have a high body mass index (BMI) as a trigger for eating disorders,” the report states.
