13m obese by 2010

Last updated at 09:30 25 August 2006


Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt insisted today that everyone should take responsibility for their own lives in the battle against obesity.

More than 12million adults and one million children will be obese by 2010, according to figures to be published today.

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Around a third of adults and a fifth of all children will be obese, statistics from the Health Survey for England - published by the Department of Health - will show.

As a result, thousands more people will suffer related diseases like cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

But despite calls for the Government to do more to tackle the problem, including curbing junk food advertising, Ms Hewitt said there was a limit to what ministers could do.

"Government's got responsibility to make it easier for people to make healthy choices for themselves, but at the end of the day it's up to each of us to decide what we eat, what we drink, how much exercise we take and how we bring our children up."

Obesity already costs the heath service £1 billion a year and around £7 billion a year and rising for the country as a whole, she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

The financial costs came with "untold misery for individuals whose lives are restricted and for their loved ones if they die early as a result of obesity-linked diseases".

In the past, major health problems such as cholera, typhoid and polio had to be tackled by Government, Ms Hewitt added.

"These days, our health depends at least as much on what each of us do for ourselves and our children as it does what the Government and NHS does for us."

The figures out today will also show a total of 22 per cent of girls and 19 per cent of boys aged between two and 15 will be regarded as obese by 2010.

A third of all men will be obese - rising from four to seven million in the next four years.

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