The strategy needs to change if we are to win the war against obesity

An international study, led by University of Southampton researchers last year, showed for the first time that during pregnancy, a mother's diet can alter the function of her child's DNA. It showed that eating an unbalanced diet can increase a child's chance of developing heart disease and diabetes.

Now Professor Mark Hanson, who took part in the research, is urging societies and their governments to change their way of thinking away from placing the responsibility on the individual, to tackling social issues more widely, and taking more responsibility for the health of women and children in order to prevent future generations from suffering diseases associated with obesity.

In his new book Fat, Fate and Disease, published on 26 January, Professor Hanson, who co-authored the book with colleague Sir Peter Gluckman FRS of the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland and the Singapore Institute of Clinical Sciences, says that our strategy needs to change to focus on early development to reduce rates of obesity.

Professor Hanson says: "Parents' diets and lifestyle can produce epigenetic changes in their unborn children, affecting their later risk of diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Such new scientific insights strengthen the case for all women of reproductive age having greater access to nutritional, education and lifestyle support to improve the health of the next generation.

"If we, as a society, focus on our early development, and on promoting health in parents even before they conceive a child - we can help both them and the next generation to avoid obesity and disease."

Obesity is increasing at an alarming rate. Almost a quarter of the UK's adult population is classified as obese and around three in ten boys and girls aged 2 to 15 were classed as either overweight or obese (31% and 28% respectively). Around the globe, obesity rates are rising, even in some of the poorest regions.

"It seems that we don't know how to tackle this problem, because current attempts are failing and obesity continues to increase," Professor Hanson continues.

"Governments, doctors and communities seem to have adopted the same strategy - to focus on our sins of "gluttony and sloth" and to transfer the responsibility for slimming down to each of us as individuals. But this has not been shown to be very effective - partly because is not always a matter of choice. Our metabolic set-points and even aspects of our appetite control can be set in early life. So a focus only on adult interventions is a very limited way of attacking the problem on a global scale.

"Unless we focus efforts on the education and health of parents-to-be, and on making human development healthy in the first few years of life, we may fail to prevent risk of ill-health and shorter lives in the next generation."

In Fat, Fate and Diseases the authors also discuss the weight-loss industry, but argue that the food industry must be made an ally in the battle against obesity.