One in ten children aged seven to nine years is living with obesity in Europe. In England, childhood obesity rises from around 10% of children in reception to around 22% by year six. While we know there are many complex and inter-connected biological, social and environmental causes of childhood obesity, a good start is to tackle this with what we know works: better diets are linked to better health.

Studies have shown that healthy diets in children are associated with better physical health. High quality diet patterns, containing whole foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, are linked with better mental health in early adolescence. We also know that poor dietary patterns and childhood obesity are linked with cardiovascular disease in adulthood.

One important but neglected way to encourage children to eat better diets with fresh fruits and vegetables is to teach them cooking skills. My recent research with colleagues has found that that younger children with more experience of learning food skills tend to have slightly higher fruit and vegetable consumption.

Preparing meals from scratch involves more........

© The Conversation