It has long been the laughing stock of the Scottish culinary world.

But now the infamous deep fried Mars bar is to become the focus of a study looking at the politics, class bigotry and anti-Scottish rhetoric triggered by the calorie-laden snack.

The £177,088 study is being funded by the Wellcome trust and led by University of Edinburgh nutritionist Dr Christine Knight, who described the delicacy as a "flashpoint" for national stereotypes in the UK.

She said: 2While many stereotypes have a grain of truth, the deep fried Mars bar myth is used as lazy shorthand and does not necessarily go about the business of unpacking the real socio-economic problems of inequalities which are a factor in diet.

"Whenever we make a moral judgment there's an element of class.

"In a way, comments about national diet can also have a class slur which has morality, class and taste all rolled into one."

The research has been welcomed by celebrity chef Nick Nairn, the youngest Scot to win a Michelin star.

He said: "The deep fried Mars bar has been a millstone round the neck of Scottish cooking. It started as a bit of a joke but soon became the peg on whcih to hang all the ills of the Scottish diet.

"If this research helps get rid of it, it is welcome."