Ruth Walker: In an obesity crisis, should children be encouraged to diet? Published on Sunday 3 June 2012 16:11 LILY is nine. Some of her friends are already tall and slender - "So grown up," the other mums murmur admiringly. But Lily still has some puppy fat. She's active enough and eats healthily, but there has been some teasing. In the playground the other day, a boy called her fat. So her mum has put her on a diet. Nothing wrong with that, you might say. But when New York socialite Dara-Lynn Weiss started counting calories and carbs with her seven-year-old - then went public with the story - there was an outcry. Now diet guru Pierre Dukan has been struck off the French medical register for suggesting youngsters of 17 and 18 should get extra marks in exams if they maintain an ideal weight. Members of the College of Physicians in Paris were appalled, saying the advice could lead to an increase in eating disorders. But the questions remain: what are the rights and wrongs of putting children on a diet? We're repeatedly told we're facing an obesity time bomb, and anyone with teenagers will know their daily food intake is largely made up of Jammie Dodgers, iced doughnuts and cereal. Not exactly a healthy diet in anyone's cookbook. How much of our attitude towards our children's weight is wrapped up in our own hang-ups as parents? And if we start obsessing about diet when our children are young, are we merely raising a generation of messed-up kids with negative body issues and an unhealthy attitude to food? Let's talk numbers. "You wouldn't want to put children under five on any kind of diet," says Dr Marnie Sommerville, a registered dietician with the Nutrition Training Company in Glasgow. The healthy eating messages to do with low-carb and high-fibre are not appropriate for children that young. Then, from five onwards, what you want to do is allow their height to catch up with their weight. "There is an abnormal focus on how people look," she adds, "and I can remember myself being quite chubby and being very self-conscious about the whole thing as a child. But we need to distinguish between what is a bit of natural puppy fat and what is actually a long-term problem with being overweight. Naturally, before the growth spurt in both boys and girls, you tend to find that they become a bit heavier, and that's the body's own way of preparing them for that change. For girls, this can happen any time after 11; for boys it's a bit later, from 14 upwards. Then come the teenage years, when they seem to have an insatiable need for food. Teenagers can need up to 3,000 calories a day. That's why there's no filling them sometimes," says Sommerville. Boys aged seven to ten actually require more calories a day than an adult woman. And when they get to about 15 to 19, teenage boys and girls are at their peak of energy needs. You will never need as many calories as you do when you're that age. So there's a delicate balance to be struck. Ensure they get enough food inside them, but not too much of the wrong stuff. And don't get them so hung up about it that you damange them for life. Obesity is a very real problem, especially for us in Scotland. But you don't want to drive them into an over-preoccupation with food," says Sommerville. It can be very risky to focus too much on diet and calories and BMI when they're young. Take the sensible approach. As with any parenting, you want to strike a healthy balance. Food should be enjoyable. So, rather than talk about restrictive diets - giving things up and counting calories and mentioning words like obesity - she recommends getting the whole family to eat a healthy, balanced diet with a variety of foods from all the different food groups, rich in iron and vitamin D, while at the same time reducing the intake of sweets, snacks and sugary drinks. It should be more of what the family does together; taking a healthy enjoyment and interest in food. And hopefully a preparedness to try new textures and tastes. I know it's a cliché, but variety is important. You tend to find that children who have a very varied diet, who are prepared to try different things, are less likely to run into problems. Those who are very faddy and stick to very few foods are more likely to have issues in later life. Also try and get them to take more exercise, so there's a balance between the intake and the energy expended. Often just by changing the diet very slightly, to reduce sugars and fats, and increasing exercise, over a period of time it can make quite a big difference. When it comes to snacking, it's the old advice of switching from high-calorie, energy-dense foods (those with lots of calories and not much else) for fruit and veg. "There's nothing wrong with sweets and crisps," adds Sommerville hastily, "but in moderation." www.nutritiontraining.co.uk; www.eatwellscotland.org