Overweight Britain

#health - 90 per cent of adults in the United Kingdom will be obese within the next 50 years, according to government statistics.

Around 9,000 people now die prematurely of obesity-related conditions each year and a third of 11- and 12-year-olds are overweight. If this trend continues, by 2050 nine out of 10 adults and two thirds of all children will be overweight or obese. A study by research agency Foresight in 2007 predicted that levels of obesity in men would rise to 60 per cent and women 50 per cent by 2050.

The cost to the country in health and social provision is likely to hit £50 billion a year and doctors say being severely overweight can cut 11 years off a lifespan.

Source: The Daily Telegraph