Want your children to eat less?

Let them serve themselves. They probably won't dole out a supersize portion on their own.

Or pour drinks into tall, narrow glasses rather than short, wide ones; they'll think they are getting more (so will you).

With Americans spending billions of dollars a year on fat-loss techniques ranging from celebrity diets to stomach-stapling surgery, the relatively new field of behavioral nutrition examines more down-to-earth questions.

Can you reduce the attraction of sweets? Can you supersize fruits and vegetables? (Yes in both cases, although it depends on the child.)

LAST November, Miss Christine Kunasekaran found out she had to take medication for hypertension.

The ITE student, who was 107kg at her heaviest, realised she had to do something drastic.

'I'm quite young to be taking medication for that,' said Miss Kunasekaran, now 23, referring to the condition that is usually associated with people twice her age. She also developed impaired glucose tolerance.

"The more time a nation devotes to food preparation at home, the lower its rate of obesity. In fact, the amount of time spent cooking predicts obesity rates more reliably than female participation in the labor force or income." ~ Michael Pollan, Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch, The New York Times Magazine, August 7, 2009.

The team, in collaboration with University Hospital Aintree, the University of Warwick and researchers in Sweden, found that people classified as obese and those with pre-diabetes have raised levels of a protein called SPARC, that can cause tissue scarring. The research revealed that an increase in insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar levels, and leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite, can trigger an increase in SPARC, which can prevent the proper storage of fat in fat tissue cells.

Studies have shown that obesity is linked to generally worse outcomes in many cancers, including prostate cancer. Because blacks are more likely than whites to develop and die from prostate cancer – and because there is a higher prevalence of obesity among black men with prostate cancer, compared to whites – some studies have suggested that obesity might be a more ominous risk factor for blacks than whites.

SADLY I wasn’t surprised to read in the South London Press that one in 10 Lewisham children are obese.

The cause is elementary – just take a walk down Lewisham High Street to see dozens of kids shoving GFC (Generic Fried Chicken) down their necks.

“Blame the parents? is the oldest chestnut in the book, but it’s fundamentally down to us to educate our children that obesity is unhealthy, unattractive and could hold them back in life – although in many cases this speech would have to be swiftly followed by “Do as I say – not as I do?.

OBESITY, diabetes and mental illness are becoming the top health concerns for Victorian children, a Government report has found.

The state of Victoria's children report for 2008 said the number of type-1 diabetes diagnoses increased significantly, from about 19 children per 100,000 in 2000 to 25 per 100,000 in 2006, putting Victoria above the national average of 23.