Meet the Brit girl whose mum put her on a diet at the age of 2

A British woman has had her eight-year-old daughter on a near starvation diet for six years.

Corleigh has been on the regime since the age of two and is allowed just 700 calories a day -1,000 fewer than recommended.

However, Aly Gilardoni insists she is acting in her daughter's best interests.

"Being over­weight dominates my life. I don't want Cor­leigh to be like me," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.

"Aly is inflict­ing her issues on her daughter - she needs to see a psychiatrist," Christian Jessen, a doctor on Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies, said.

"Calorie restricting a normal-weight child is unnecessary and detrimental to her health.

"Her immune system will suffer, her growth may be affected, puberty will be delayed and there will be a risk of osteoporosis as well as mineral and vita­min deficiency.

"More worryingly, from a psy­chological point of view, this could trigger severe anorexia that could ultimately kill her," the Doctor added.

Miss Gilardoni said:"I don't want a fat child. I'm obsessed with how she looks. I want her to be pretty and popular and she wouldn't be if she was bigger.

She admits her daughter, who was anaemic until she was five, is now afraid of being fat: "She's always looking in mirrors. I feel guilty - but it's how I want her to be," she said.

Miss Gilardoni, from Ips­wich, says she started comfort eating aged 13, and was a size 20 by the time she was 16. She is now a size 22.

She broke up with Corleigh's father six years ago and, lacking confidence because of her size, vowed her daughter would never get fat: Her "getting an eating dis­order like anorexia would be preferable".

Typically, Corleigh eats Weeta­bix for breakfast, salad and half a roll for lunch, and a jacket potato for dinner.

"With an eating disorder you can get through it with therapy. But when you're fat, you're fat for life," she added.