Aside from the obesity epidemic amongst children in the United States, there also seems to be an epidemic of parents who think their overweight kids are healthy.

Researchers from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, New York University and Fudan University in Shanghai believe the new culprits now causing childhood obesity are parents who inaccurately assess their children's weight.

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The study, published in the journal Pediatrics concluded that a good percentage of parents today inaccurately assess their children's weight compared to previous generations.

According to the team of researchers, "Crucial to parental involvement in weight reduction or maintenance efforts among children is parental recognition of their child's overweight status. This recognition and the associated health risks are the main driving force motivating parents to take action."

Childhood obesity is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention according to the BMI (body mass index) percentile of a child among peers his age and gender.

Children who have a BMI at or above the 95th percentile are categorized as obese, while those who fall between the 85th and 95th percentile are seen as overweight.

In 2012, 18 percent of children between 6 and 11 years old were considered obese.

Parents and children, however, are believed to be in denial about weight. Many parents believe the CDC's definition of obesity is "ethnically biased and therefore invalid."

The new study showed that pediatric obesity has tripled in past decades. The socially acceptable body weight has also changed.

Records on 2,871 kids who participated in the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1988 and 1994 were analyzed. A total of 202 kids were also tracked between 2005 and 2010.

In both time periods, their parents were asked about their perceptions on their kids' weight.

In the recent survey, 83 per cent of the overweight boys and 78 per cent of the overweight girls were perceived to be "about the right weight" by their parents.

In the earlier survey, 78 per cent of parents of overweight boys and of 61 percent of parents of overweight girls thought their kids' weight was just right.

There was an even bigger disparity when it came to perceptions about obesity.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, 26 per cent of obese boys and 21 percent of obese girls were seen by their parents as being average in weight.

In the 2000s, 37 per cent of obese boys and 33 percent of obese girls were seen by their parents as "about the right weight".

"In the wake of the obesity pandemic, more and more parents may compare their child to peers or friends of their child to maintain a positive image of their own child," the researchers concluded.