Every fifth child in the city is overweight when they begin school, according to a new Oulu University PhD thesis.

The research also found that overweight children eat when they are unhappy. If their mothers ‘comfort eat’ then they will copy their behaviour. Living with only one biological parent (usually the mother) was associated with children becoming overweight.

More than half of the overweight children’s parents do not realise that their children are overweight, a problem which is even more prevalent amongst the parents of boys, the researcher, Marja Vanhala, found.

She also found that children are more likely to gain weight if they skip breakfast, later eat large portions and then do little exercise, as the body will be less likely to burn off the calories.

The overweight children’s diet is often deficient in fruit and vegetables and this usually reflects the fact that the parental diet is similarly unhealthy.

Since the early 1970s, strong attempts have been made to combat Finnish obesity, especially by schools. These have included nutrition lessons as well as ensuring that government-funded school meals are particularly healthy, with the menus now published online for parents to inspect. However, compulsory schooling does not begin until the age seven.

The study is the first to look at the relationship between mood and Finnish children’s eating habits. It examined nearly a thousand seven and eight year olds in Oulu, starting in 2003.

The thesis – officially titled in English ‘Childhood overweight: risk factors, recognition and lifestyle’ – will be publicly defended on 27th January at Oulu University.

The thesis – written in Finnish with an English abstract – is available here: http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9789514297441/isbn9789514297441.pdf