Obesity-related illnesses take up about 9 percent of NHS budget and have the potential to bankrupt the system, according to a new British Medical Journal report.
Health experts opined that obesity crisis was reaching a saturation point. A&E person George Alberti and Glasgow University professor Naveed Sattar said that in 2010 the number of obese could rise from one in five currently to one in three.
They have recommended that an obesity helpline number should be tagged on the clothes who purchased larger sizes. The report, titled, "Obesity - Can We Turn The Tide?" also says that urgent action is needed if a crisis is to be averted.
"The problem of rising prevalence in obesity may get much worse - rates could climb still further, bankrupting the health system and leading soon to reductions in life expectancy," Professor Sattar said. "So we need to think out of the box, nothing that has been looked at so far seems to have worked."
Some of the recommended measures to tackle obesity include taxing processed foods with high sugar content; stricter planning regulations that permit new housing complexes only if they have sports facilities in the vicinity and fund obesity surgery for people with BMI of over 40.
“Medical practice must adapt to the current epidemic of obesity and nutrition-related diseases," the report concludes. "The profession must unite the forces of public health and acute services to generate sustainable changes in food and lifestyles: matters at the heart of our cultural identities."
