By Shola Adenekan

Researchers raised concerns about school breakfast clubs

"I was concerned on two levels," she said.

"One was on becoming addicted to hidden sugars and reluctant to eat fresh, unsalted, sugar-free food.

"The other factor was the increasing evidence that hidden sugars in savoury foods upset our pancreatic function and is leading to a massive increase in type-2 diabetes amongst our children."

A recent study of food provision in school breakfast clubs, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, suggests children who were supposed to be getting healthy school breakfasts as part of a government scheme to tackle obesity were instead getting fat on handouts of fast food.

Funding

Dr Margo Barker, a nutrition expert from Sheffield University, who led the study, says the foods on offer were not compatible with healthy eating guidelines.

There are huge pressures on children to choose foods compatible with social norms as deemed by peers, advertising and food availability Researcher Dr Margo Barker

"Breakfast comprised, for example, doughnuts, flapjacks, crisps, fruit squash, sausage sandwiches and buttered toast - fruit was not offered," she said.

Schools say they are not to blame. They say due to poor funding in the education sector, they have no choice but to give catering contracts to the lowest-bidding contractors.

"Catering contractors are failing to provide pupils with healthy eating options," says James Roberts, an assistant head teacher in a secondary school.

"They do this under the guise of 'this is what pupils want'. But this is untrue, they make lots of money from selling junk foods to schoolchildren."

Web advice

Yet catering contractors say they do provide pupils with healthier eating options and are making efforts to educate young people about their diets.

"We have set up a website - coolmeals.co.uk - aimed at school pupils, telling them what makes a balanced diet," said a spokesperson for Initial Catering Services, one of the largest school catering contractors.

"We provide certain standards in our bidding for school contracts, telling them what nutrition we are providing. We also go to schools and talk to children about their diets."

Nutritionists also blame fast food adverts for encouraging bad eating habits among young people.

"There are huge pressures on children to choose foods compatible with social norms as deemed by peers, advertising and food availability," Dr Barker said.

"Food holds many meanings unrelated to health and these predominate in determining food choice.

"For example, children see junk food to be fun, trendy, sexy and exciting.

"Tighter controls on advertising, which propagates such messages, should be invoked and efforts should be made to imbue traditional foods with the same meanings."

Fruit

There are contrasting views on the effect food promotion has on children's diets and what action, if any, should be taken, but experts believe it would be misleading to suggest that adverts in isolation lead to children eating too many sweets or having poor diets.

Prof Paul Freathy, a retail management expert at the University of Stirling, says schools do not really have to remove fizzy drinks vending machines and parents need not stop their children from eating a burger meal in order to stem the rise of obesity among young people.

"This is the same as distributing a piece of fruit to all school children on a daily basis and expecting their eating habits to suddenly improve.

"Such actions have only limited impact upon healthier eating as their dietary habits remain unchanged."

There are already signs of change from the fast food industry. Last month, Burger King restaurants in Scotland introduced grapes, carrots and fruit juice as new options on their menu.

McDonald's has also introduced salad options at its restaurants across the UK.

A spokesperson for the Food and Drink Federation - the voice of UK food and drink manufacturers - says its members are working with the government on finding a solution, which is to be published in a White Paper on public health, including the obesity problem, due to be issued later this year.

"Just because these companies are using sports celebrities doesn't mean they are telling young people that fast food should be their main diets. The industry has a code of practice, which we are very good at upholding," she said.

There is no quick-fix solution to the problem of obesity, experts say.

It requires a concerted and consistent effort in the long term by a variety of local, national and even international parties.

Education, they say, is the key to stopping a potential obesity epidemic and parents must play vital roles in changing children's eating habits.

"Getting individuals to alter their patterns of consumption requires both parents and children to be informed and educated about the consequences of obesity," Prof Freathy said.

"Emphasis should be placed on ensuring that children have a choice in their diet and on educating them to understand why it is important to make such choices."