Parents are entirely to blame for the obesity of their children, an explosive study suggests.

The Korean Society for the Study of Obesity said that 22.4 percent of children who do not eat dinner with their parents are obese, while the rate among kids who sit down to a family dinner is just 5.1 percent. The KSSO said this is the first-ever study linking childhood obesity with the living patterns at home.

Childhood obesity in Korea rose steadily from 5.8 percent in 1997 to 9.6 percent in 2012. The number of children and teens with diabetes surged from 15,100 in 2005 to 21,300 in 2013.

The KSSO studied nutritional intake from 2009 and 2013 and analyzed data on 3,281 children between six and 11 and their parents, as well as surveying 1,000 parents of elementary schoolchildren this year.

It concluded that mothers who consume more than one carbonated drink a week increase the risk of obesity in their children 1.6 times. Also, families that eat out more than 5.5 times a week consume 204 kcal a day more than families that stay in.