Educating parents on healthy eating could be more effective at reducing childhood obesity than physical activity, a new study has found.

The study, undertaken by researchers from the universities of Newcastle and Wollongong, found that targeting parents rather than children is the key to combating childhood obesity.

The two-year study, titled Hunter Illawarra Kids Challenge Using Parent Support (HIKCUPS), involved 165 overweight children of primary-school age and their parents, who were divided into three groups.

In the first group, parents underwent a nutrition program in which they were encouraged to change the whole family’s food habits.

In the second group, kids were given physical education training; and in the third, both methods were used.

The results surprised the researchers involved.

“When we started the study, our hypothesis was that the group where both the parents and the kids got treated would do the best, but they actually didn’t,” Professor Clare Collins from the University of Newcastle told AAP.

Instead, the group where the parents were targeted and the kids did not receive any treatment achieved the best result.

Parents key to ending childhood obesity