Obese kids face stigma, flunk school: European research
Obese children are far less likely to finish school than peers of normal weight, according to European research Thursday which also highlighted body image problems in kids as young as six. Britain had the second-highest rate with 23.1 percent, followed by Albania with 22 percent and Georgia with 20 percent, Bulgaria with 19.8 percent and Spain with 18.4 percent, said an analysis of data provided by 32 countries in the World Health Organization's 53-member Europe region. People are classified overweight if they have a BMI (body weight index, a ratio of weight to height) of 25 and higher, and obese from a BMI of 30. A second study presented at the congress said only 56 percent of children in Sweden who had received treatment for obesity completed 12 years or more of school, compared to 76 percent of normal-weight peers.
