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Approximately 12.5 million children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese. But could their weight be affecting their academic performance? A new research claims that's not the case.

According to a British study, being obese does not affect children's school performance.

Researchers at the University of York analyzed data from nearly 4,000 children.

"We sought to test whether obesity directly hinders performance due to bullying or health problems, or whether kids who are obese do less well because of other factors that are associated with both obesity and lower exam results, such as coming from a disadvantaged family," study author Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder said in news release. "Based on a simple correlation between children's obesity, as measured by their fat mass, and their exam results, we found that heavier children did do slightly worse in school."

Previous studies have found a link between obesity and poorer grades and this new study suggest that this may be due to issues that affect both weight and academic performance, including socioeconomic factors such as whether a child's family is poor.

"But when we used children's genetic markers to account for other factors, we found no evidence that obesity causally affects exam results," Scholder said. "So we conclude that obesity is not a major factor affecting children's educational outcomes. Clearly there are reasons why there are differences in educational outcomes, but our research shows that obesity is not one of them."

According to the CDC, obesity is common in pre-school children living in low-income households.