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A shocking new documentary will show some of Britain’s most obese teenagers weighing up to 23 stone.

Experts say the "huge" problem will continue to increase if parents don’t take action.

Britain’s leading Childhood Obesity Clinic in Bristol is inundated with seeing more than 80 obese kids a week.

Cameras in the clinic over the past year will highlight how Tommy, a 14-year-old weighing 23 stone, and Harry, a 15-year-old weighing 18 stone are amongst Britain’s most extreme cases, who struggling to lose weight.

But experts insist the obesity crisis could be curbed if home lives were improved for some children.

Professor Julian Hamilton-Shield, clinical lead in paediatric weight management says: "The health problems are absolutely huge.

(Image: Channel 4)

"If you don’t address it whilst you’re a child. By the time you’re an adolescent it’s almost getting too late.

"I’ve seen children with BMI’s of 65-67 and because overweight and obesity has become so prevalent in the country, then people have stopped recognising it as being different.

"Eighty five percent of parents don’t recognise their child is overweight and the ultimate responsibility for the care of that child lies with their parents."

For most adults a body mass index(BMI) of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight.

(Image: Channel 4) (Image: (Channel 4 images must not be altered or manipulated in any way) Channel 4 Picture Publicity, Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2TX This picture may be used solely for Channel 4 programme publicity purposes in connection with the current broadcast of the programme(s) featured in the national and local press and listings. Not to be reproduced or redistributed for any use or in any medium not set out above (including the internet or other electronic form) without the prior written consent of Channel 4 Picture Publicity. )

Anything over 30 is considered obese and a normal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.

Speaking on the Channel 4 doc 100 Kilo Kids, Paediatric Obesity Nurse Specialist Melanie Wenn also urges families to take action themselves.

She says: "I’ve seen children out of breath by the time they’ve walked from the waiting room into the clinic room. You have to address that.

"If we don’t reverse it now we will be failing these children.

"A lot of the adolescents who describe their hunger, actually when you talk to them it is not about hunger, it is more about a need, an intrinsic need.

"They do almost get a feeling of love from eating. What you need to do is you need to deal with the emotional trauma that is making them feel that they need that food in their life as a substitute."

(Image: Channel 4)

She also says society needs to change it’s attitude to obesity and not think there is a simple solution.

The expert adds: "People are almost ashamed which is really sad that that is how they are feeling.

"If they were self harming in a very physical way, we wouldn’t name and shame them, and yet there is something around if you have got a weight issue that yes it is your fault and you just need to go and flick the switch and stop doing what you are doing.

"Actually, the deep seated root is huge and in society that is not being recognised at all.

"I think it is difficult with teenagers because you have that balance where they are starting to be more independent but they are not emotionally ready for some of the things that they maybe have the independence over managing and that very often is food."

(Image: Channel 4)

In the doc based at Bristol Royal’s Hospital for Children, Tommy, 14, has had 18 months of treatment at the clinic but is 23 stone at the start of the documentary and says his life consists around playing computer games on his bed.

"Crisps, cake, yogurts, ice cream, bit of everything really," he says of his diet.

He adds: "PS4 is my drug, I just sit here play that and go to sleep. Eat, sleep, game, repeat y’know."

As one of the clinics heaviest ever patients, he eats around 4,000 calories a day before the obesity clinic intervenes and brings him into stay in the hospital for a week.

His mum Esther says at one point: "I can’t watch this anymore. I am grieving for a child that is still sat here."

(Image: Channel 4)

She says she finds it hard to keep track of what he is eating.

But thankfully he does eventually show signs of progress and when he does start to lose weight at Esther says: "Maybe I could have been a stronger person…maybe I could have said no a little bit more often but no one is going to take that control away from me again. So maybe I’ve become more focused."

Harry, 15, sees his weight rise to begin with despite working with the clinic.

He was initially brought in after his hip collapsed in part due to his weight.

(Image: Channel 4) (Image: Channel 4)

He has a BMI of 44 and the ball and socket of his hip “slipped off” and needed emergency surgery.

Harry says he thinks part of the reason for his problems are his dad leaving the family home when he is younger.

"I don’t really want to see the dietician. I don’t like people telling me what to do with myself, I just want to do it on my own,” he tells the cameras.

The documentary also features a five-year-old Lilianna who at seven stone weighs double what she should for her age and has taken to stealing food from her fridge at home, even once trying to eat a raw sausage.

However after doctors run tests they find out her obesity is due to gene defect which works in your brain and affects your appetite.

The documentary ends with Professor Hamilton-Shield saying: "You have to work through the parents - they are the ones that need to be the effectors of change.

They are the ones that need to do it."

100 Kilo Kids: Obesity SOS is on Channel 4 on Wednesday at 9pm.