How much does a campaign to increase our awareness of obesity then prove to be a catalyst for the psychological angst that may drive eating disorders?

As increasingly we learn of the alarming numbers of overweight Australians, we also hear alarming stories of children, some as young as seven, distressed about their body image. Education about healthy eating and exercise is an important tool for any young mind, but how much of it now veers to scare tactic? And how much of it takes into account the rising levels of eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia?

Children, and the community in general, are confronted by so many conflicting and extreme images of how we should and should not look. From the waif-like models who strut the catwalk, to the young celebrities famous more for their eating habits or lack of them. From Biggest Loser reality television shows to fat camps for kids.

Even clothes size with such wide variations in size-for-age can trigger unease among the young.

There are stories of children being weighed at school, at times in front of peers, and of diet clubs being encouraged among larger children. We learn of incidents of bullying and social isolation of larger children yet another anecdotal trigger for eating disorders.

And the misuse of the body mass index as a tool for measuring a child's health and well-being is a dangerous over-simplification.

No small wonder that one in 20 Australian women admit to having suffered from an eating disorder, and another one in four individuals acknowledge they know someone with such a disorder.

More revealing and less publicised is the fact that 10 per cent of young adults and about 25 per cent of children diagnosed with anorexia nervosa are male.

A new Senate inquiry into the premature sexualisation of children will be touching on the psychological effects young people may suffer from over-exposure to provocative images. Perhaps such an inquiry should be developed to examine just how balanced is the nation's sometimes alarmist approach to what is considered a healthy weight for children.

We have moved on from the days of the "it's just puppy fat" dismissal of a child's larger physique, but let us not forget to protect the innocence and confidence of a child's innate self-image.