Researchers say a daily routine of breakfast, lunch, dinner along with two further snacks a day can help shed pounds.

But breaking the routine can lead to weight gain

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- for instance, skipping breakfast is associated with putting on weight, according to the study published in the International Journal of Obesity.

More than 4,000 children were studied from the time their mothers were pregnant through to the age of 16 by health experts from East Finland University.

They kept records of weight gain and lifestyle habits, from what kind of food and drink they ate to how often, as well as looking at genetic factors like the weight of their parents.

Those who kept to a regular eating pattern of five meals a day - the three main ones with two snacks in between -- grew up with a lower body mass index (BMI).

This was true even of those children who had obese parents, it found. However, erratic eating patterns, such as skipping breakfast, led to a higher BMI.

The researchers believe that eating patterns are an important "early life risk factor associated with obesity" and getting into a daily eating routine and offset other factors, even genetic ones.