Let's stop imposing our irrational fat issues on our children. The scientific evidence is there that we are being hysterical, not informed.

Most overweight children do not become overweight adults. The British Medical Journal reports that even plump adolescents will develop no long-term health problems as a result. It's the thinnest children who are most likely to have health problems in adulthood.

The BMJ study has proven that childhood weight does not predict adult weight. Moreover, overweight children are no more likely to be unhealthy as adults than children of average weight. It's people who become obese in adulthood who develop health problems.

We parents really need to take this reality on board. We are in the midst of an eating-disorders epidemic which is being imposed on children by a combination of media images of thinness and misguided parental concern.

If we worry about our children's weights we risk giving our children psychological problems.

We've got to challenge the popular misinformation that overweight children are risking their health. And we've got to stop blaming parents whose children are plump. I heard a doctor on Marian Finucane's morning radio programme recently who actually blamed the fact that more mothers were working outside the home for the increase in overweight children. To me this doesn't make any sense.

The real health crisis is being caused by panic. Anorexia and bulimia are potentially fatal mental illnesses with long-term consequences and they are on the increase. Why? Because children - especially girls - are obsessed with their bodies. They're obsessed because we're obsessed.