Calling someone fat could be made a HATE crime as girls as young as 5 'mentally and physically ill' over weight worries

Abusing someone about their weight should lead to prosecutions, MPs have said

One in four seven-year-olds have been on a diet



Parents are being blamed for passing on their own body image worries to their children

Self esteem and body confidence classes could be given to all children at school



Fears: Children as young as 5 are worried about their weight while many more youngsters are going on diets, a new report says

Girls as young as five are wrestling with mental and physical illness because they are so worried about being fat, MPs have warned today.



Intense and unrelenting pressure over body image is 'damaging society' with a quarter of all seven-year-olds admitting they have tried to lose weight by going on a diet, they say.



A parliamentary report published today says that a lack of self esteem is damaging a generation of children who may struggle with school work and forming friendships.

All children could now attend body confidence and self esteem classes at school.



And now calling someone ‘fatty’ should be deemed a hate crime, these MPs say.

The Government should consider putting ‘appearance-based discrimination’ on a legal par with race and sexual discrimination, the report suggests.

The Equalities Act 2010 makes it unlawful to harass, victimise or discriminate against anyone because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability.



The blueprint, Reflections on Body Image, recommends ‘a review into the scale of the problem of appearance-based discrimination’.

It says: ‘This may include exploring whether an amendment to the Equalities Act would be the most appropriate way of tackling discrimination.’

Around half of girls and up to one third of boys have dieted to lose weight and children, and their parents have been blamed for passing on some of their concerns about their weight and appearance.

Stop! Calling someone fat should become a hate crime on a par with racial or sexual discrimination, a new report suggests

Appearance is the greatest cause of bullying among children, leaving some suicidal and others with eating disorders, the report says.



And cosmetic surgery rates have increased by nearly 20% since 2008 and the rise was said to be fuelled by advertising and 'irresponsible' marketing ploys.

Patients who want cosmetic surgery like breast enlargements should have to undergo rigorous mental health checks before being allowed the procedure, say the MPs.

Damaging: Lib Dem Jo Swinson, pictured, says that the body image problems have hit a new high

Central YMCA chief executive Rosi Prescott branded the report's findings shocking.



'It's clear that there's something seriously wrong in society when children as a young as five are worrying about their appearance, based on the messages they are seeing all around them,' she said.



'Body image has become more important in our culture than health, and children are mimicking their parents' concerns about appearance.



'We all have a responsibility to act now to bring about the attitudinal and behavioural change that's necessary to prevent damage to future generations.'

APPG chairwoman Jo Swinson MP said: 'Body image dissatisfaction in the UK has reached an all-time high and the pressure to conform to an unattainable body ideal is wreaking havoc on the self-esteem of many people.'

The report also calls for the NHS’s controversial weigh-in for children to be scrapped because it wrongly labels many youngsters as obese and could lead to bullying.

Under the National Child Measurement Programme, a pupil’s body mass index is taken when they are five and ten.

However, the report claims that BMI – which measures a person’s weight in relation to their height – is often inaccurate because it does not take muscle into account.

It also risks giving children complexes about their weight which, at worse, could lead to eating disorders.



The MPs recommend that instead a children’s waist size or level of body fat be measured.

■ You’ve spent months counting calories to finally get into that size 12 dress.

But perhaps you shouldn’t have bothered – no matter how much weight you’ve lost, your friends still think of you as fat.

Scientists have found when a woman slims down, she is still thought of as overweight.

Dr Janet Latner, from Hawaii University at Manoa, which co-authored the study with Manchester University, said: ‘Obesity stigma is so enduring it may even outlast the obesity itself.



