The charity said children should be educated on healthy eating

Children in Scotland hosted an international conference in Dunfermline on Friday to debate the issue.

More than a third of Scots children are overweight and most do not lose that excess weight when they grow up.

The charity has urged the Scottish Executive to ensure lunch is served in nurseries in the belief it will make it easier to promote healthy eating.

Children in Scotland believes helping youngsters aged three and four to eat healthy meals will help them avoid fatty and unhealthy foods as they grow older and develop their social skills.

Wendy Alexander, a member of the Scottish Parliament's education committee, chaired the conference, with speakers from around the world.

She said: "It is never too early to be involved in the preparation of food.

Healthy snacks

"That's something that gets more difficult when you go further up the school curriculum and it is more crowded and there are more academic subjects.

"Let's start early with making the preparation of your own food something that children expect to be involved in from the very, very beginning."

The executive has issued nurseries with guidelines on healthy snacks, but it has no plans to ensure nurseries serve meals.

It said this was a decision for individual nurseries and parents.

Donatella Giovanni, a speaker at the one-day conference - An appetite for life: young children, food and eating - stressed the importance of the midday meal in developing social and emotional skills.