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Obesity is the new smoking in terms of the impact on health and the cost to the NHS, the head of the NHS in England says.
A quarter of adults - up from 15% 20 years ago - and one in five schoolchildren is obese, figures show.
The problem is estimated to already cost the NHS £9bn a year.
But NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said if obesity rates kept rising it could even threaten the sustainability of the health service.
Someone with a body mass index (BMI) - a height-weight ratio - of more than 30 is considered to be obese, according to NHS Choices.
Speaking to the Public Health England annual conference in Coventry on Wednesday, Mr Stevens said: "Obesity is the new smoking. It represents a slow-motion car crash in terms of avoidable illness and rising health care costs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29253071
A quarter of adults - up from 15% 20 years ago - and one in five schoolchildren is obese, figures show.
The problem is estimated to already cost the NHS £9bn a year.
But NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said if obesity rates kept rising it could even threaten the sustainability of the health service.
Someone with a body mass index (BMI) - a height-weight ratio - of more than 30 is considered to be obese, according to NHS Choices.
Speaking to the Public Health England annual conference in Coventry on Wednesday, Mr Stevens said: "Obesity is the new smoking. It represents a slow-motion car crash in terms of avoidable illness and rising health care costs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29253071