Another reason to encourage and enforce good eating habits in your service has come about as a result of research conducted in Canada, which has shown that a child's diet and eating habits at three could determine their risk of heart disease as an adult.

The researchers have shown that the effects of unhealthy eating start at an early age with children aged between three and five showing signs of high cholesterol.

Dr Navindra Persaud from the University of Toronto says the findings suggest interventions aimed at improving the eating habits of children should start earlier in life.

"Our results show that associations between eating behaviours and cardiovascular risk appear early in life and may be a potential target for early intervention," said Dr Persaud.

The researchers examined the eating behaviours of 1076 children aged between three and five and weighed five aspects of childhood eating behaviour: whether children could decide how much to eat, whether they ate while watching TV, the number of meals per day, the presence of gagging or trouble swallowing and hunger levels as a result of frequent drinking and studied the link between eating habits and serum levels of non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol a marker of cardiovascular risk in later life.

The results showed that eating habits were strongly associated with cholesterol levels supporting arguments for early intervention in the eating habits of preschoolers.

"Evidence suggests promoting responsive feeding, where adults provide appropriate access to healthy foods and children use internal cues (not parent-directed cues or cues from the television) to determine the timing, pace and amount they consume," said Dr Persaud.

The findings were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and highlight the important role early childhood education and care providers have in instilling and maintaining good eating habits and a balanced diet in preschool children.