BOSTON – Massachusetts health officials have approved regulations that would require sending children's Body Mass Index measurements home to parents.
The Public Health Council voted unanimously Wednesday to calculate student heights and weights, which are already measured annually, into a Body Mass Index measuring their overall proportions.
The results will be sent home to parents for students in first, fourth, seventh and 10th grades in a package explaining what they mean and how parents can best combat obesity.
Department of Public Health Medical Director Lauren Smith says Massachusetts will join Arkansas in notifying parents about a child's Body Mass Index. Eighteen other states require a BMI calculation.
The new regulations will be phased into schools over the next 18 months.
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