‘Skinny gene’ children

Youngsters whose parents are at the lower end of the healthy weight range are three times more likely to be regarded as thin (weighing less than a healthy weight range) than those whose parents are overweight.

The study, published in the journal Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, recorded the height and weight of parents and up to two children from 7,000 families over a five-year period.

Analysis of body mass index (BMI) found that when both parents were at the lower half of the ideal BMI range, the chance of the child being thin was 16.2 per cent, compared with 7.8 per cent when both parents were in the upper half.