Unhappy with your body? Blame your mother.New research has uncovered that women's body insecurities are more than just skin deep. Our mothers' opinions matter.The survey found that a mother's stinging comments about eating that tempting piece of cake can contribute to a poor body image.''You have to watch what you say about getting fat or what you eat because this influences children's attitudes about themselves," said Dr Zandile Mchiza, a clinical dietician.In a recently published paper for the Human Sciences Research Council, Mchiza said a mother's perceptions of the ideal body are passed on to her daughter.In her study Mchiza quizzed a group of 300 preteen girls and their mothers.It showed their perceptions of themselves are also fuelled by culture and ethnicity.The group of pre-adolescent girls aged between nine and 13 - of black, white and mixed ancestry - was presented with a series of eight female silhouettes from slender to overweight and asked to pick their ideal body shape.Young black girls tended to choose a fuller figure; the white girls picked the thinner silhouette.''The [black] mothers also picked the fuller figures. When we probed this choice we found that this figure is preferred within the black families.''In some communities being thin is associated with disease. People think you have HIV or TB. Also being chubby suggests wealth in certain cultures," said Mchiza.White women, on the other hand, favoured the thinner body type as the ideal picture of health.Mchiza, in her research paper, said: ''What is of concern is that South African studies suggest that overweight black women are resistant to adopt health behaviours, despite knowing that they are at an increased risk for noncommunicable disease.''South Africans don't know which body status is healthy and normal. There's an overload of information. Its not about getting thin, it's about getting healthy," she said.Western Cape-based psychologist Angela Hough agreed that a mother's attitude to her own body and diet has a big influence on her daughter.''Mothers' comments to their daughters about their weight are very important."We need to help mothers to have a healthy perspective with self-acceptance of their own bodies and encourage them to exercise to be healthy rather than to be thin," said Hough.She said negative comments about weight could lead to self-esteem damage.''This sometimes leads to suicidal behaviour and some seek intimacy and sexuality without valuing themselves."The other extreme leads to eating disorders like binge eating or anorexia," she said.Already preteen girls as young as eight years old are on a diet.Johannesburg dietician Lila Bruk, who based her master's degree on childhood body image, said more than 50% of young girls in her study between the ages of eight and nine wanted to lose weight.Refue Mofokeng, who says she was a ''fat" kid, has given up on attaining the ''perfect skinny body".At the age of 10 she was already popping diet pills.''I'm very plus size, which pretty much means I'm obese," she said.The 32-year-old Johannesburg copywriter grew up bigger than her six siblings, who teased her so she hid behind her ''flaw" with humour.''I was on Duromine [an appetite suppressant] at the age of 10."My mom would tell me I needed to lose weight - and would be scared to take me shopping in case I couldn't find my size. I don't think she was being malicious, just protective. But I think it did more harm than good," she said.Mofokeng is not alone scrutinising her body image based on her mother's opinion.First-time mom Claire Govender, 36, from Bryanston, north of Johannesburg, said although she was a petite-to average- size teen, her mother's recent comments over her weight gain from her pregnancy have knocked her self-esteem.''My mother is very petite and is in good shape. Since I've had the baby she makes constant comments about how I shouldn't let myself go. As a new mother it's hard to not take it to heart. There's a lot of pressure to follow in her footsteps to look youthful and trim," she said...