But the INTA nutritionist points out that good habits do not only include what we eat, but also how we eat. She proposes practices such as respecting meal times (both for grownups and for children), trying to eat in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere, hopefully not in front of a television.

She also points out that to have a healthy life, this must include periodic physical exercise and a positive attitude to things in life, as a good quality of life is built on bricks from different aspects of human nature.

This makes it all the more important to create good eating habits because these provide people with a better quality of life.

For Sonia Olivares, a nutritionist at the University of Chile's Nutrition and Food Technology Institute (INTA), it is the parents that play an essential role in this "because it is at the infant stage that behaviour patterns are formed and will be maintained for life", she explains.

And this activity is so powerful, adds this specialist, that for example, "if a parent does not teach a child to eat fish because he or she does not like it, it is almost sure that as an adult the child will not consume it".

For this reason, she goes on to say, it is of vital importance that the family provide the correct bases of a healthy diet, and this means, eating a balanced diet that includes all the different types of food in the right proportions.

Furthermore, she adds, one of the bad practices adopted by the family is to associate eating with a compensation for the child. Undoubtedly, small children are seduced by hamburgers, chips or french fries and drinks containing sugar.