A nutritionist has slammed NHS checks on children’s weight after his slim son was branded overweight.
Aaron Nee said his son Jacob came home with an NHS letter warning his parents to "make healthy changes" in April.
The five-year-old was weighed at school in March when he was four and was deemed to be overweight at 26.2kilos (4st 1lb) for his 3ft 11 frame.
The dad fears the letters could lead to widespread eating disorders by encouraging parents to put their children on diets from a young age.
Aaron, from East Sussex, said: "He came home with it one day in an envelope addressed to us and it just said 'we weighed your child at school and we see him as being overweight'.
"I was very angry reading that because as you can see my son hardly has an ounce of fat on him - he is certainly not overweight and he is certainly not unhealthy.
"Luckily for my son I'm very educated on the matter, but the majority of parents aren't. The letter just went straight in the bin.
"Jacob is totally oblivious to what's gone on because I wouldn't say anything to him and I'm obviously not going to put him on a diet or anything like that.
"It made me feel more angry for other kids getting this letter and parents reading it and either telling their child that they're overweight or putting them on a diet which is obviously not needed for a five-year-old.
"Or even making little comments to their kids like if they want to have chocolate and the parent says 'you can't because we've had that letter from school and you'll get overweight'.
"There is no real advice on what parents should or should not say to their child.
"That's just leading to an eating disorder at a really young age, it's very dangerous.
"The amount of clients I speak to who can trace their eating disorders back to what a doctor or someone at school told them about their weight is incredibly high."
The National Child Measurement Programme measures the height and weight of children aged four to 11 to assess overweight and obesity levels within primary schools.
These two measurements are used to generate a Body Mass Index (BMI), which is then compared to a national scale to determine whether that person is underweight, normal, overweight or obese.
Aaron added: "I was just really shocked they do this really old technique that no nutritionist would use to determine anyone's health on its own.
"I get why they're doing it because you can use it on a mass scale and say out of the whole of the UK, 60 per cent are overweight or something like that and it will probably give you accurate figures.
"But on an individual basis it just literally means nothing [because] BMI doesn't take into account bone density or muscle mass.
"To use it on an individual basis is moronic [but] unfortunately for us there are a lot of morons in powerful places when it comes to nutrition and health."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "The National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP) helps to inform action taken at both a local and national level to improve the health of all children and promote a healthier weight.
"Our approach to the programme is reviewed every year, in consultation with a wide range of experts, as well as children and families, school-nurses and headteachers.
"Providing parents with their child's results is not compulsory and local authorities can choose if and how to notify parents."
