Pediatricians Can Help Parents Recognize Overweight Preschoolers

More "help" for unfit parents.

Parents are more likely to underestimate their preschool children's weight when pediatricians do not tell them their children are overweight or gaining weight too fast, a study by the University of South Florida and Johns Hopkins University reports.

The study, published online...in Clinical Pediatrics, suggests pediatricians should not hesitate to wield their influence in helping parents identify overweight children. These children are at risk of developing serious and costly health problems once reserved for adults, like Type II diabetes and heart disease.

From those who are unwillling.

"When it comes to younger children, pediatricians tend to shy away from discussing and making recommendations about weight," said lead author Raquel Hernandez, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics at USF Health.

But they will help mutilate the genitals of young girls - until they are called on it.

And continue to ignore their own recommendations.

The best help they can offer is by getting out of the way.

And the best that can be done to help parents too stupid to realize their piglets are fat is to enforce the child abuse and neglect laws.

That will bring both the idiot parents and law-breaking docs into the fold.