A weight loss camp for children is to hold its first fat camp' for under-fives - and it will all be captured on film.

Paul Gately, Professor of Exercise and Obesity at Leeds Metropolitan University, is so concerned about the growing rates of overweight children in Britain, that he is designing a camp for pre-school.

A growing epidemic of childhood obesity in Bradford was revealed in shocking figures published in September which found 11 per cent of boys in reception classes were overweight and 12 per cent were classified as obese, while 11 per cent of girls were overweight and ten per cent were obese.

It is the first time every reception class child in the Bradford district in the school year 2005/06 has been weighed and measured.

Year six pupils are also weighed and measured and the exercise will be repeated each year to keep track of the scale of the problem.

Prof Gately has been running summer camps for overweight teenagers at Woodhouse Grove School in Apperley Bridge, Bradford, for eight years.

His approach has helped more than 1,000 children lose weight.

ITV will be following his progress for a documentary to be broadcast next year.

He is offering free places to families who would like to take part.

Prof Gately said: "The biggest problem is that parents often don't recognise that their child is overweight. Seventy per cent of parents of overweight children would identify their children with normal weight and 30 per cent of parents with obese children think of their children as just right - so there's a huge perception problem.

"It's imperative that parents know how to spot the signs of an overweight toddler."

The scientific way to identify if a toddler is overweight or obese is to use the Body Mass Index in which the child's weight in kilograms is divided by their height in metres squared.

A child with a BMI of 17 is overweight and a BMI of 19.5 is obese.

Prof Gately said a range of factors contributed to children becoming overweight at such a young age - and isn't necessarily what they eat.

"Obesity is a risk if a child is sleeping less than ten-and-a-half hours a night and watching more than eight hours of television a week," he said.

"They are at ten times greater risk of becoming obese if both parents are obese. A lot of people will be worried about food but it is the range of environmental factors that contribute, rather than food.

"We will be helping parents understand the different issues. It is not a diet or exercise programme it is about sensible lifestyle changes. This is going to be a great opportunity to not only do something for the children we will be working with but it will also inform many millions of people who can watch it on television."

Parents interested in finding out more should contact olivia.hamblin@itv.com or call (0207) 633 2596.

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