It also exposes the failure of Government drives to reduce the number of obese people, which already causes 9,000 premature deaths a year and costs the NHS £1billion.[>

Researchers used data from 1993 to 2004 from the Health Survey for England to predict future obesity trends.[>

They discovered that if rates continue to rise unchecked, 13 million people will be obese by the time London hosts the Olympic Games.[>

The findings published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Comm­unity Health showed that almost half will be from low income and dis­advantaged communities, widening the health gap between the haves and havenots even further.[>

The height, weight and body mass index of 128,000 adults were examined to calculate the likely prevalence of obesity by 2012, using three different approaches.[>

These included looking at year-on-year increases – assuming trends remain constant – allowing for a speeding up or slowing down in the rate of change and then linear trends for the six most recent years only.[>

In the years studied, the prevalence of obesity almost doubled in men, from 13.6 per cent to 24 per cent, and rose by almost 50 per cent among women from 16.9 per cent to 24.4 per cent. Based on these trends, the researchers concluded that around one in three adults – 32.1 per cent of men and 33.1 per cent of women – will be obese by 2012.[>

Britain is already the second fattest nation in the developed world, trailing only behind the United States.[>

Obesity can slash nine years off a person’s life and increases the risk of developing a range of health problems including breast, colon, kidney and stomach cancer.[>

The problem is so serious that the health service is resorting to extreme measures such as offering obesity surgery, weight loss pills and even membership of slimming clubs to patients who need to shed excess pounds.[>