Last updated at 15:06 15 December 2006

Oversize clothes should have obesity helpline numbers sewn on them to try and reduce Britain's fat crisis, a leading professor said today.

And new urban roads should only be built if they have cycle lanes, according to Naveed Sattar, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow.

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He is calling for more government intervention with a central agency set up to deal with the problems of obesity.

Britain's fat problem is so acute that it could even bankrupt the health system if nothing is done.

More than half of the UK population is overweight and more than one in five adults is obese. Obese people are at high risk of health problems and treating them takes up an estimated 9 per cent of the health budget.

Prof Sattar is calling for more political intervention.

He and his colleagues say food manufacturers should also display energy content of all meals and snacks at retail and catering outlets.

The saturated fat content of all ready meals and snacks should also be clearly labelled.

New urban roads should only be built if they have safe cycle lanes and new housing complexes should be constructed only if they have sports facilities and green park areas, he says.

He also wants to see adviceline numbers attached to all clothes sold with waists above 102 cm for men, 94 cm for boys, 88 cm or size 16 for women and 80 cm for girls.

Such measures would affect comedian Dawn French who runs her own clothes shop Sixteen 47, catering for women up to a size 47.

Prof Sattar also wants ads for slimming services without independent evaluation banned, TV ads for sweets and snacks stopped before 9 pm, higher tax on high fat and high sugar foods and tax breaks for genuine corporate social responsibility.

In this week's British Medical Journal, Prof Sattar says education should be provided at all levels to change behaviour towards diet and physical activity, and obesity made a core part of all medical training.

"People clearly have some responsibility for their health, but society and government have a responsibility to make the preferred, easy choices healthier ones," he said.