Last updated at 16:01 11 January 2008

More than 230 people are treated at hospital every day for health problems associated with obesity, Department of Health figures revealed today.

And the problem is soaring at an alarming rate with the number of hospital consultations soaring almost 30 per cent in the last year alone.

In nine years the effect of obesity on hospital consultants has trebled as the numbers needing treatment has risen from 23,961 in 1997/98 to 85,302 in 2006/07.

The statistics reveal the number of people who were seen by a consultant where either the main source of illness was classified as excessive body weight or where obesity had contributed to some other ailment.

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The number of obese children has also soared in recent years. In 1997/98 just 689 children were seen by hospital consultants as a result of their obesity.

However by 2006/07 this had risen to 2,307 children.

National Obesity Forum chairman Dr Colin Waine said: "We badly need a public health approach to alter the environment and make it less obeseogenic. This has to be led by the government."

Experts predict the obesity problem will be costing the country 45bn pounds a year by 2050, of which 6.5 billion will be spent on treating the health effects such as type two diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure, cancer and coronary artery disease.

The rest will be made up of the cost to industry for time off, and the benefits paid out to those incapacitated by their weight.

It is now estimated that around 34,000 deaths a year can be attributed to illnesses resulting from obesity.