The test reveals if your child will be obese at age 10 by using facts about parents

Scientists can predict by the age of 1 year if a child will become overweight, it was claimed last night.

By using 12 facts about a baby and his parents, experts can accurately predict the development of a child as he approaches his teenage years.

People are at higher risk of gaining weight if their mother has diabetes during pregnancy, although birth weight and parental height are also important. Boys and children of younger mothers are also more likely to be overweight.

Scientists can predict from the age of one year if a child will become obese using only 12 facts about an infant and his parents, it was stated last night

The researchers hope to create a mobile phone application in which parents can grasp the characteristics of their family to discover a prediction for their child.

Scientists explain that the 12 factors predict excess weight within 10 to 12 years with an accuracy of 70%.

Dr. Tanja Vrijkotte, from the Amsterdam Medical Center, who participated in the design of the test, said: "Babies can be programmed into the woman's womb so that they become obese"

Dr. Tanja Vrijkotte of the Amsterdam Medical Center, who helped design the test, said, "Babies can be programmed into the womb for overweight because of diseases such as diabetes, and lifestyle differences can make them obese.

"If we can predict that, we can discuss eating habits and physical activity with parents. It is much easier to develop healthy habits in an infant who is not yet overweight. Older children are more difficult to lose weight. "

In Britain, childhood obesity has jumped 28% in a decade and more than a third of children leaving primary school are overweight.

One in ten is obese and 4.1%, and children as young as nine have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Yesterday, the Mail revealed that pioneering classes had even been introduced to help parents be stricter with their children in matters of food.

Dutch researchers have developed a tool to predict whether a child aged 10 to 12 will be overweight, based on simple questions about the situation of 7,810 children, more than a quarter of whom were overweight.

An infant whose mother has had gestational diabetes is 81% more likely to be overweight in school. Other risk factors include an overweight father or a pre-pregnant mother.

A woman who has high blood sugar can pass it through the placenta to her unborn baby, making the baby's body more likely to store fat, while overweight parents can transmit unhealthy eating habits. Other factors include a child's birth weight and weight relative to height. Boys are about a fifth more likely than girls to be overweight between 10 and 12 years old.

Older, more educated mothers, who may have higher incomes, are less likely to have overweight children. Other factors include ethnicity, parents who smoke at home and mothers who smoke during pregnancy. Children exposed to smoke in the uterus are born with insufficient weight, but tend to grow more to compensate.

The researchers hope to create a mobile phone application in which parents can grasp the characteristics of their family to discover a prediction for their child.

The researchers hope that an application will be available in the next few years.

Tam Fry, president of the National Obesity Forum, said, "If all clues are followed and weight gain indicates obesity, parents should be informed and helped to avoid it."

Nearly nine out of ten children consume too much sugar. National guidelines state that children should not absorb more than 5% of their calories from "free sugars", that is, added to foods rather than those that occur naturally, for example in fruits.

But Public Health England data shows that 87% of children aged one and a half to three years consume more than the recommended level.