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The researchers found that smoking during pregnancy and being overweight before becoming pregnant accounted for a sizeable proportion - around 40% - of the persistent social divide in childhood obesity rates.

The research team, led by Dr David Taylor-Robinson, estimated the risk of overweight or obesity at the age of 11 among almost 12,000 children, according to their socioeconomic circumstances at birth.

By the age of 11, one in three children whose mums had fewer qualifications were overweight compared with one in five of those whose mums who were better educated - to degree level or higher.

After taking account of other influential factors, black/Asian/mixed ethnicity, older maternal age (30 and above), overweight before pregnancy, smoking during pregnancy, high birth weight, absence of breastfeeding, and weaning onto solid foods before the child was 4 months old were all significantly associated with an increased risk of overweight by the time s/he had reached the age of 11.

Taylor-Robinson said: “Our study has shown that socioeconomic circumstances at birth, as measured by mother’s educational attainment remained significant after adjusting for all other influential factors.

“Our study also found that the risk of a child being overweight by the age of 11 increased the more heavily the mother smoked during her pregnancy even after taking account of other potentially influential factors.

“Policies to support mothers to maintain a healthy weight, breastfeed and abstain from smoking during pregnancy are important to improve maternal and child health outcomes, and our study provides evidence that they may also help to address the continuing rise in inequalities in childhood overweight.”