TORONTO — Contrary to what parents might want to believe, teenage obesity appears to begin at home with the children of dangerously overweight parents more likely to be obese themselves, according to Statistics Canada.

Physical inactivity, smoking and poor eating habits were also found to be passed down from generation to generation in data taken from the 2000/2001 Canadian Community Health Survey.

Among girls ages 12 to 19 with an obese parent, 18 per cent were found to be overweight and 10 per cent were obese.

The sons of an obese parent fared even worse, with 22 per cent reporting in as overweight and 12 per cent obese.

Overall, five per cent of the more than 9,700 Canadian youth surveyed were found to be obese based on their weight, height and age. Along gender lines that number broke down to six per cent for boys and three per cent for girls.

But girls were far more likely to misjudge the health of their bodies. Fifty-three per cent who perceived themselves as being obese or overweight were not according to their Body Mass Index.

Among boys, some 22 per cent thought they were dangerously overweight when they were not.

The survey also found that physical inactivity, smoking and poor eating habits, which it considers risk factors for obesity, were also passed on to children.