Children who have no access to a garden are more likely to become obese, according to a recent study.

Researchers found that no access to a garden between the ages of 3 and 5 years is linked to a nearly 40 percent increased risk of developing obesity by age 7 years old.

"Also the combination of a more disadvantaged neighborhood and higher education increased childhood overweight/obesity. To conclude, we showed that limits on access to outdoor space is associated with future childhood overweight/obesity although moderated by education level. More research is needed to see how we can deploy these findings in the prevention of type 2 diabetes," the authors wrote.

Overweight and obese children are at increased risk of becoming overweight and obese adults and therefore being overweight or obese in childhood is an important risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. Being overweight or obese is associated with environmental, parental and socioeconomic status characteristics.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from nearly 6,500 children from England. The aims of this study were to assess the association of environmental characteristics during ages 3 to 5 on being overweight or obese at age 7. Furthermore, the authors assessed if parental behaviors and socioeconomic status affected this association.

After adjusting for parental influences and socioeconomic status, researchers found that no garden access for lower educated households (children age 3-5 years) increased the odds of overweight/ obesity at 7 years old by 38 percent. There was also a 38 percent increased risk of overweight/obesity at 7 years for children of higher educated households living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

The authors are currently planning a further study on the influence of the environment on risk of overweight/obesity.