More than 41,000 overweight patients including seven teenage girls needed new hips or knees last year, an investigation has found.

In the past 12 months 25,577 patients had knee replacements and 16,184 had hip operations where obesity was a major factor behind the decision for surgery.

These joint replacement operations cost around £5,000 each and over 40,000 procedures were carried out in 2017-2018, reports the Sunday Times.

Of the thousands having hip replacements last year, seven were for teenage girls aged between 15 and 19.

In the past 12 months 25,577 patients had knee replacements and 16,184, including teenagers, had hip operations where obesity was a major reason for the surgery (file picture)

Tam Fry, chairman of the National Obesity forum said the fact teenagers were included in the numbers was 'horrifying.'

He said: 'Tragically, more and more adults and children are going to require joint replacements in the years to come.'

Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: 'The fact that even teenage girls have had hip replacements because of obesity should send shock waves through ministers' offices.'

The Sunday Times statistics show the number of patients having replacement surgery's has soared from 6,191 in 2009-10 to 41,761 in 2017-18.

The findings have brought new calls for obesity to be reclassified as a disease.

Obesity is a growing problem in the UK and around the world, with almost half of Britons and one in five people worldwide expected to be extremely fat by 2045.

Research last year also found a quarter of adults don't do enough exercise, with 1.4billion of us leading inactive lives.

The Royal College of Physicians said earlier this week that people shouldn't be blamed for being fat and said it wants obesity recognised as a chronic illness (file picture)

The Royal College of Physicians said earlier this week that people shouldn't be blamed for being fat and said it wants obesity recognised as a chronic illness so very overweight people can receive specialist care.

Professor Goddard said: 'It is governments, not individuals, which can have an impact on the food environment through regulation and taxation, and by controlling availability and affordability.

'Governments can also promote physical activity by ensuring that facilities are available to local communities, and through legislation and public health initiatives.'

The announcement comes just a day after Public Health England revealed English children eat 18 years' worth of sugar before their 10th birthday.

PHE said the average 10-year-old has already consumed 304lbs (138kg) of sugar over their lifetime – more than the maximum recommended amount for an 18-year-old.

Public Health England said they are working with the food industry to make food healthier and have campaigns to try and get families to be more active.