This collection of images is taken from the book 'Hungry Planet: What the World Eats' by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio and shows how much processed food has taken over many nations meal-times as well as the huge difference in the volume of food we consume. Although we already know a lot of this these images really do tell a thousand words. The portraits feature pictures of each family with their weekly shop.

Women can lower the chances of their children becoming obese in later life if they exercise during pregnancy a report claim. In a new study of 84 first time mothers, found babies born to those who exercised were on average 143 grams lighter than those mums who did not exercise. The New Zealand based study shows that working out not only helps pregnant mums stay healthy but also increases the fitness levels of unborn babies. Crucially, the babies who were lighter were not any shorter in length suggesting that there was no lack in nutrition as a consequence of this exercise.

"The later you introduce complementary feeding to an infant, within the range of 2-6 months, the smaller is the risk that the infant will be overweight as adult," Dr. Kim Fleischer Michaelson of the University of Copenhagen. Some studies have suggested that breastfeeding protects against obesity, although the data is not conclusive. The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommend that babies be breastfed exclusively until six months of age, and advise against introducing solid foods until then. But many parents start their children on solid foods earlier.