LONDON: Parents who fail to help an obese child eat and exercise properly, ignoring all advice and guidance, could be guilty of neglect, British child health experts say.

Dr Russell Viner and colleagues from the UCL Institute of Child Health, in London, say the weight of a child by itself is not a reason for child protection staff to become involved.

But in an article on what they accept is a potentially contentious issue, published online by the British Medical Journal, they suggest that it may be appropriate to consider the child protection register if the parents consistently fail to change the family's lifestyle and will not engage with outside help.

''Parental failure to provide their children with adequate treatment for a chronic illness (asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc) is a well accepted reason for a child protection registration for neglect,'' the experts write.

''We suggest that childhood obesity becomes a child protection concern when parents behave in a way that actively promotes treatment failure in a child who is at serious risk from obesity.''