MORE should be done to help couples improve their health before they try for a baby, according to Southampton researchers.

The team from the University of Southampton was led by Professor Mark Hanson.

The group are urging health bosses to engage better with young people and teach them how their health affects their future children in a bid to combat obesity.

It comes as figures reveal more than 50 per cent of women aged 25 to 34 are obese and more than one third of children aged two to 15 were overweight or obese.

Studies have continuously shown the effects of the mother and father’s health and wellbeing on their offspring.

In 2011 a Southampton study revealed that a mother’s diet during pregnancy can alter the DNA of her child and increase the risk of obesity.

The team has written in the chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies’s latest annual report urging for medics to prioritise improving the health of men and women before they conceive to tackle obesity and related health issues in future generations.

The team argue that the time between adolescence and parenthood should be used more to teach people how to lose weight, improve their health and prepare to be parents to improve the health of any future children.

“More than 50 per cent of women aged between 25 and 34 are obese and this increases the risk of complications during pregnancy and can compromise the health of their children,” Professor Hanson, pictured.

He added: “To prevent childhood obesity efforts should be targeted on improving a mother’s nutrition and her baby’s development in the womb.

“Many young people do not contact a health care provider while they are going through adolescence.

“It is only when they fall pregnant or are having trouble conceiving that they start to talk to their GP, and this can be too late to pass the best health on to the baby.

“Harnessing the opportunity to promote the health of young people and their future children requires both a top down and a bottom up approach to raise awareness about this issue and supply the necessary care.

“In 2013, more than a third of children aged 2-15 were overweight or obese. We need to do more to prevent this number increasing.

“Improvements have to be made in a range of areas to produce a change in preconception health, which in turn will improve the health of future parents and future generations.”