The latest Change4Life ad has come under fire from a leading eating disorder charity for pushing “unhelpful” health messages.

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of eating disorder charity Beat, said although advice to eat sensible portions was sound, the NHS-backed campaign had health messages damaging to people with anorexia.

“Our main concern is the message of hidden fat,” she said. “Hidden fat is the awful dread of people with anorexia, the irrational fear that drives them to avoid food. The Government can’t explain hidden fat - how are parents supposed to know if their children have it?

“It’s an unhelpful message for the significant population living with eating disorders.”

The ad, made by Wallace and Gromit creator Aardman, encourages parents to control their childrens’ portions by serving “me-size meals”. In the ad, an overfed child complains that his parents are feeding him too much.

“My teacher said if I eat too much and do too little, food gets stored as fat in our bodies, which means I could grow up to have heart disease, cancer, or type-two diabetes,” the voiceover says.

Complaints on the advert’s official Youtube page included: “My daughter now will not eat anything apart from salads due to this video.

“She’s only five. [This is] how to get kids to have eating disorders.”

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