A WORLD expert on human nutrition believes weighing young children does little to tackle obesity and could even lead to eating disorders.

According to Oxford Brookes professor Jeya Henry, if families ate together at meal times and concentrated on preparing and eating homemade meals, the obesity problem could be tackled.

He said he could not comment on NHS Oxfordshire’s findings as he had not analysed the results, but he believed people were overweight for three main reasons.

He said: “The first, which you may laugh at, is central heating.

“In the past to keep warm you had to burn off some energy.

“People shivered, their teeth chattered and all of these things burn energy.

“Secondly, it’s only in the past 30 years we’ve had such enormous food variety. If one only had bread to eat, maybe dripping or butter, with perhaps some homemade jam, one would not eat so much.

“And thirdly, the amount of physical activity people do has changed.

“Most children would have had to walk to school, or have done some household chores, or played games outside rather than on a computer.

“I’m not suggesting going back in time but there are some things people can do to adapt, if they understand the issues.“ Prof Henry, a consultant to the World Health Organisation, also believes weighing children at such a young age will not help tackle obesity and could lead to psychological problems and eating disorders.

He said: “This isn’t to attack the organisation for trying to do something, but only about a third of children who are overweight or obese will become overweight or obese adults.

“It’s when children hit puberty the pattern is set.

“Instead, the emphasis should be on learning to appreciate and enjoy food, and sitting together as a family to eat.”