(AgapePress) - A new program in Arkansas to fight childhood obesity by sending home body fat "report cards" is drawing fire from some who feel the program may be counterproductive.

This year the State of Arkansas will be testing every school child's body mass index (BMI), which is an indicator of body fat based on height and weight. The results will be sent to parents next spring in the form of health report cards. But not all parents and teachers like the idea.

Dr. Nancy Krebs, chairwoman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition, believes the obesity test is counterproductive. She fears that the process of testing students and categorizing them numerically may result in some children being stigmatized.

"A number by itself is not very meaningful. It really takes some interpretation. And I think young children are definitely at risk for teasing and this being related to how they're feeling about themselves. Their weight shouldn't define their self esteem -- nor should a BMI," she says.

Krebs also has concerns that many school health professionals will not be able to take any significant advantage of the data due to time constraints.

"My concern would be that school nurses won't have time to really do enough with the BMI calculation to really make it useful, because I assume they will be pulled in other directions. Most school nurses I know have limited time to cover all the things they are supposed to do," she says.

The Arkansas Child Health Advisory Committee has suggested statewide implementation guidelines to ensure that each child's health report card be sent directly to their parents in a private and confidential manner, along with recommendations and resources available to them.

The health report card program was developed in response to a mandate of the Arkansas legislature, which recently passed legislation requiring that parents be provided with BMI reports on their children each year, along with an explanation of the index and the health risks associated with obesity. Over the past 20 years, childhood obesity rates in the U.S. have more than doubled. Five other states have implemented similar programs in recent years.

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