Obese will bankrupt NHS

The study, which shows British people are the fattest in Europe, predicts that by 2025 obesity will cost the health service £20billion, equivalent to about 12 per cent of the budget.

Professor Philip James, founder of the International Obesity Task Force, who compiled the report, said: “If levels of obesity rise in line with Government predictions the NHS will no longer be able to afford to treat all of its patients.” Shaw Somers, who performed obesity surgery on 65-stone Paul Mason, said: “The Government has to urgently get a grip on the situation.”

The figures, compiled for the Sunday Express, show Britain already has the highest number of obese adults in Europe and projects that by 2050 over half of all women and two thirds of men will be obese.

The problem is not just confined to adults, however. A quarter of British children are now classed as obese and by 2025 it is predicted nearly half of boys under 16 and 38 per cent of girls will be obese.

Professor James, a former Government adviser on public health, said: “Obesity is the single biggest threat to our health service.

“These figures are shocking and highlight the need for radical action. Doctors and successive governments have grossly underestimated the huge health impact of this problem.” Professor James predicts obesity will be a big drain on the economy, with people off work due to joint problems and backache.

The report shows that by 2050 the cost to the nation is estimated to be £45billion. “Everyone knows that the risk of heart attacks, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and cancer markedly accelerate among obese people but also there is a huge increase in problems like arthritis and backache,” he said.

Obesity has already reached epidemic proportions in Britain. Fifty-eight per cent of the population is classed as overweight and 25 per cent are obese.

Earlier this year Health Secretary Andrew Lansley asked Mars, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Pepsi and other fast food companies to help overcome the obesity problem. As part of a deal that will relax regulations on salt and sugar in foods, the companies will give the Department of Health free advice on healthy eating campaigns.

However, Mr Lansley came under fire after it was revealed that just months before the General Election he had been earning £24,000 a year for 12 days’ work as part-time director of Prospero, an advertising agency whose major client is Pepsico, makers of Pepsi. The agency also represents confectioner Mars.

Professor James said using the food industry in this way was a mistake. “The fast food industry influences eating patterns in the opposite way needed for health.

“The Government should be setting down clear goals for the food companies to change their products and stop them manipulating the population to eat the wrong food.”

He believes Britain’s obesity epidemic is largely caused by the “intense marketing” of “inappropriate and sometimes cut-price junk food over successive generations”.

In response, a Department of Health spokesperson said:

"We agree that more needs to be done to reduce obesity. For the first time we will ring-fence public health budgets to ensure resources are spent where they should be, including giving more help to deprived areas.

We are also bringing together businesses, charities and public health experts to create an unprecedented  new "public health responsibility deal" to support people make healthy choices.

"Government cannot deal with obesity alone. We want to work with a range of partners - local government, the NHS, the voluntary sector, and business - to give people the best possible information and support in improving their health.

"Our recent public health white paper set out our radical agenda for public health. In the spring, we will publish a further document setting out the part Government and other partners can play in tackling obesity."