As a parent are you failing to spot the signs that your child is overweight?

A worrying number of parents of overweight children think that their youngsters are a healthy weight, a new survey conducted in England has found. Figures uncovered from a Health Survey for England study published last month by NHS Digital reveal that parents are struggling to pick up signs that their children are putting on weight.

Such findings are now raising fears that high levels of obesity are normalising unhealthy weights.The report into children's health found that 85% of fathers thought their children were of a healthy weight, despite 52% having obese kids. The survey also found that obesity among children aged two to 15 was most common in the fifth of households with the lowest incomes.

The problems lies with parents being over weight themselves it becomes the new normal said the chair of National Obesity Forum. Parents also think their children's weight isn't obese as their friends are also in the same category and they dont pick up changes.

However, these findings are just the latest to support growing evidence that parents are struggling to recognise obesity in their children. Previously a study at the University of Nebraska Lincoln in the US found that half of parents with an overweight child were in denial about their child's size.