Preschoolers want less fat and more muscle

Young children are picking up a potentially dangerous message that fat is bad and muscle is good before they have even started school, a study of Australian preschoolers has revealed.

Parents and teachers of preschoolers are making little girls weight conscious and little boys want more muscle, according to the research showing kids form an image of "perfect body" ideals very early in life.

The study of four-year-olds by Melbourne researchers has found adults are unintentionally sending these negative messages in how they talk about their own and the child's body, said lead researcher Marita McCabe, a professor of psychology at Deakin University.

"Even at this young age, mothers are already communicating different messages to boys and girls," Prof McCabe said.

The study of 53 children across four kindergartens is the first to focus on the socio-cultural influences on body image among preschoolers.

Prof McCabe said the development of eating disorders was one of the dangers of parents and teachers communicating messages about "ideal" bodies to boys and girls.

"They do this by their attitude to their own bodies, and by suggesting to their daughter that they need to exercise more (to lose weight) and to their sons that they need to eat more (to increase their muscles)," she said.

"Education programs need to be developed and implemented among preschool teachers and parents, as it would appear that body-image concerns and associated behaviours are already present among children of this age."

Research shows that dieting and weight-control practices, including vomiting and laxatives, are common among 20-45 per cent of adolescent Australians, and may begin as young as eight years old.

One study found 71 per cent of school children wanted to be smaller than their current size, and only seven per cent wanted to be larger.