Research has estimated children across Scotland consume almost 4.4 million soft drinks a week - the equivalent of more than 600,000 a day.

Figures from Cancer Research UK have prompted demands for Scottish ministers to change the law to crack down on supermarket multi-buy offers on sugary drinks.

Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK's prevent expert, said this would help by "deterring families from stocking up on drinks that are doing so much damage to our diets".

The charity's health campaigners used data from the 2015-2017 Scottish Health Survey to calculate the number of soft drinks - including fizzy drinks, energy drinks and diluting juice with added sugar - that youngsters were consuming.

By applying the frequency at which these were consumed to the number of children aged between two and 15, they estimated youngsters across the country drank 627,288 of these a day - amounting to 4,391,015 a week.

The figures did not include diet drinks, low calorie or no added sugar drinks, or fresh fruit juices.

Official NHS figures for the school year 2016-17 found almost a quarter (22.9%) of pupils in P1 were at at risk of being either overweight or obese.

While the UK Government has introduced a so-called "sugar tax" on soft drinks, Prof Bauld insisted more could be done.

She said: "It's scandalous that sugary drinks are now a routine part of what our children are consuming daily.

"Supermarket multi-buy deals encourage us to bulk buy, so these drinks are always within reach at home.

"And with almost a quarter of children as young as four entering primary school overweight or obese, the dreadful consequences of our diets are all too obvious.

"While the sugar tax was a step in the right direction, there's much more to be done.

"The Scottish Government must take action by introducing laws to restrict the multi-buy offers on junk food and sugary drinks. This measure would go a long way to deterring families from stocking up on drinks that are doing so much damage to our diets."

Her call was backed by grandmother Gail Nesbit, from Edinburgh, whose seven-year -old granddaughter Maci attends the city's Fet-Lor Youth Club.

The club has recently banned junk food and high sugar drinks from its tuck shop as part of health eating initiatives.

Ms Nisbet, 58, said: "The amount of sugary drinks children routinely drink is shocking. So many of the kids go to the supermarket to buy their lunch and of course they're looking to get the most for their money.

"If the offers weren't on sugary juices, then the kids would go for something else instead.

"The special offers are the first thing that hit you when you walk into the supermarket and it's natural to want to pick up a bargain and stock up.

Shed added: "If these drinks weren't on offer, people would think twice before buying them."

Fet-Lor youth work manager Amy Henderson told how the club had been "working really hard to make sure the young people who come here have access to healthy food and drink".

But she stressed: "If a young person goes to the local shop at lunchtime with £3 in their pocket and they see they can get big bottles of sugar-packed fizzy juice in a deal, well they're going to be tempted to go for that, thinking they're getting more for their money.

"Multi-buy offers on junk food and sugary drinks are really unhelpful and, by their very nature, they're tempting us all to buy them.

"It's shocking that so many children in Scotland are an unhealthy weight and it's clear to us that much more could be done by the Scottish Government to help us all to manage this better."