By DANIEL MARTIN

Last updated at 08:58 17 October 2007

Obesity is more dangerous than smoking and will dramatically shorten the lives of millions, a landmark study has found.







While smoking reduces life by an average of ten years, the research says being seriously overweight can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years.

The Foresight report, written by 250 leading scientists, says Britain's obesity crisis is so severe that it would take at least 30 years to reverse.

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If current trends continue, by 2050 about 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children in the UK will be clinically obese - so fat that their health is in danger. At present around a quarter of adults are obese.

The effects of this on the nation's health will be devastating. The report expects type 2 diabetes to rise by 70 per cent, strokes to go up by 30 per cent and a 20 per cent rise in coronary disease.

The rates of certain cancers will also go up.

The associated chronic health problems will cost an extra £45.5billion a year, more than half the amount of money that goes into the entire NHS at the moment.

The Foresight study warns that the majority of adults are already overweight and that being overweight is now seen as "normal".

But modern life - with the easy availability of cheap unhealthy food and families relying on their cars - means it is almost impossible for many to avoid putting on weight.







Indeed, it is becoming inevitable for most because our biological instincts combined with our modern environment mean we are "destined" to pile on the pounds.

Lead author Professor David King, the Government's chief scientific adviser, said: "We must fight the notion that the current obesity epidemic arises from individual over-indulgence or laziness alone.

"We live in a consumer society which encourages us to eat. We have a sedentary lifestyle. It's an environment which means that if we just behave normally we will become obese.

"We may only put on a bit of weight a day but there are 365 days in the year."

He added: "This will need a major culture change and a long-term commitment from government.

"The obesity issue is getting worse every year and we have not got much time to act."

The report comes after the Government quietly dropped its target to halve the rise in childhood obesity by 2010.

Accepting the target was unachievable, ministers sneaked out an announcement last week that it would be replaced by a target to reduce by 30 per cent the proportion of children who are obese or overweight by 2020.

The Foresight report found that being obese, with a body mass index of more than 30, knocks nine years off a person's life, while men with a BMI of more than 45 face 13 years less life.

At present around 50,000 men have a BMI of more than 45 but in the coming years this figure is expected to soar.

The report says the human body is biologically predisposed to put on weight because this was an advantage in our evolutionary past.

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Pointing out that the design of many towns and cities is based around the needs of the car, it suggests more should be done to ensure that it is easier to walk and cycle to encourage residents to take more exercise.

Sugary and fatty foods are much cheaper than they used to be, but the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables has actually risen over the past 15 years.

The report says the availability of unhealthy food and drink should be controlled, perhaps by restricting advertising or certain ingredients in foods such as trans fats.

The scientists call on the Government to make the problem a priority, perhaps forming an independent committee similar to the one being developed on climate change to bring together government departments and industry.

Dr Susan Jebb, of the Human Nutrition Research Unit, said action against obesity needed to be as tough as the action taken against infectious diseases in the 19th century.

She said Britons were in general eating more unhealthily and taking less exercise because that was becoming normal behaviour and "generally we act as a herd".

The real problem was that "we have prioritised cheap food above healthy food, and we have prioritised taking the car over walking".

Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "There is no single solution to tackle obesity and it cannot be tackled by Government action alone.

"We will only succeed if the problem is recognised, owned and addressed at every level and every part of society."

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But Peter Hollins, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, said successive governments had ignored warnings of an obesity crisis since the mid-1970s. "It is hardly a wake-up call," he said.

"Repeated reports like this, which should have had alarm bells ringing in Whitehall long ago, have been met only by repeated pushes of the Government's snooze button.

"We have seen several policies touted in recent days as suggested solutions, but what we lack is a multi-faceted cross-Government strategy, backed with resources and the full attention of the Prime Minister, with clear short-term targets and a commitment to bold, concerted action."

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: "Three years after it published a public health White Paper, the Government's approach remains uncoordinated and limited.

"Public health budgets have been raided to offset deficits in the NHS and the number of public health professionals has declined.

"It's time for the Government to prioritise public health. If it doesn't, the human and financial cost on society and the NHS will escalate out of control."

In the past 30 years, physical activity has declined significantly in the UK.

Between 1975 and 2003, the average distance per year each person in England walked fell from 255 miles to 192 miles.

Over the same period, distances cycled fell from an average of 51 miles per person per year to 34 miles.

Car use, meanwhile, increased by more than 10 per cent. A fifth of all journeys of less than a mile are now made by car.