The study, funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish parliament, follows a shocking report last week which found that obesity levels in Scotland are now the second highest in the developed world, behind the US. Figures show one in five primary seven pupils in Scotland is clinically obese. Researchers from Dundee University interviewed 300 mothers of two-year-old children living in areas of high deprivation in Dundee and Fife. They found that based on current guidelines, the vast majority of the children - 85% - were classed as having a poor-quality diet.

 

Professor Iain Crombie, head of the department of public health at Dundee University, said that the research focused on toddlers because mothers still had control over what their children ate at that age. Disadvantaged areas were also chosen because of concerns that the incidence of obesity in older children is higher in deprived areas.  "The mothers were very good at knowledge of expert recommendations on what children should eat; almost all got all questions correct," he said. "On the benefits of a healthy diet, they were all absolutely spot-on, both in terms of the immediate short-term benefits, but also the longer-term benefits of having a healthy life.  "There was a lot of support for a healthy diet: that kind of message is getting through, but it is not changing the fundamental behaviour."

 

While a lack of skills in the kitchen among the modern generation is often cited as contributing to the obesity crisis, Crombie said that most of the mothers in the study knew how to cook. "Most of the women thought their cooking skills were okay," he said. "A very high proportion said they could make soup, for example, but virtually nobody did." Barriers to a healthy diet that were identified included concerns about children eating enough and that healthy food would not "fill them up". Crombie said that encouraging parents to cook and plan meals should be a key concern, instead of providing advice on dietary guidelines. "We think rather than focusing on food knowledge and the benefits of a healthy diet, we need to encourage mothers' self-belief in the ability to cook and the ability to control the child's diet," he said. "Certainly, parenting classes and health visitors should emphasise the importance of regular meals and encourage parents to cook and plan to cook."

David Haslam argued that more effort had to be made to improve the accessibility and reduce the price of healthy food in deprived areas.  "It is not easy to just jump in the car and nip round to the supermarket if you haven't got the car or the petrol and unhealthy food is much cheaper than healthy food," he said. "At the local chip shop or take-away, you can feed the family very cheaply with unhealthy food, whereas healthy food takes the money and getting to the place that supplies it."