CNN-IBN, New Delhi: Give a kid some snack money and they're likely to grab some quick and tasty food like burgers and samosas. But when this food is combined with a lifestyle built around sitting at a desk or computer, the results could be lethal.

A study conducted by a coterie of researchers at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital revealed some startling findings.

Dr Anoop Misra's team put 1900 school kids in Delhi under the scanner for two years and discovered that 17 per cent of these kids were overweight or obese and likely to be up for some serious trouble in a few years.

Professor at the AIIMS, Dr Anoop Misra says, "We did a large survey in Delhi schools and discovered that most kids have bad eating habits and are insulin resistant. Basically that means that in a few years from now they are likely to be diabetics."

In a few weeks from now, his team will branch out into schools in Delhi and soon in other cities with workshops, posters and suggestions for the canteen "” fewer burgers, puffs and colas and more fresh fruit juices and sandwiches.

But how many kids do you know who would actually choose to buy a green salad at break time?

With working parents too busy to pack healthy food for their kids, most in this group get a few hundred rupees everyday to buy themselves snacks.

Principal of Modern School, Barakhamba Road, Lata Vaidyanathan says, "I accept that even in our school there is Coke and burgers but there is also rajma chaval and anyway even if kids didn't get these things in the canteen they will buy them outside."

Adolescents like Yatin Balwani barely get time for outdoors exercising. After returning from the school and tuitions, it's videogames and TV for the kids.

An adolescent, Balwani says, "I come back around six and then I play video games for an hour and then I go to tuition and then I go out with my friends for a few minutes."

A few minutes? Most kids spend less and less time on playing fields as videogames and other sedentary activities take over their lives.

Trapped in their desks and at computers, eating fast food "” for the kids of today "” the path to obesity seems inevitable.

Dimple Balwani, a parent,asserts, "There is always the pressure of advertisements. We go to McDonalds and there are all these free toys available with Happy Meals and the children feel tempted. How can we battle that?"

With powerful advertising from colas and fast food joints and the lure of the videogame and new lifestyles, keeping our kids healthy will perhaps need a whole new approach.