A new study authored by the Professor Naveed Sattar at Glasgow University has looked into the rising costs that are being incurred by the National Health Service due to obesity. The report has some grim findings not least that in years to come obesity could bankrupt the NHS if the upward trend of obesity is not checked soon.

At present it is estimated the total cost of obesity in the UK accounts for almost 10% of the yearly budget that is given to hospitals and the UK has one of the highest numbers of obesity in the EU at over 20% and experts say that if the trend continues this figure may soon rise to over 30%. Obesity is linked to many illnesses and diseases that overweight people always seem to have health problems at some stage in their lives such as diabetes, elevated blood pressure, heart disease and also some cancers have a direct link with being overweight too.

Overweight and obese people also suffer from mobility problems, which means that they can end up in wheelchairs thus costing the state money in mobility aids. The obesity bill is estimated to be around £7.4 billion yearly.

The wake up call for the UK seems to be happening with advice from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence being promoted recently and doctors are warning the government that they must get the food industry to start manufacturing healthier foodstuffs and stop the reliance on processed food that is causing many families to get overweight.

The UK government is also realising that they need to invest money into solving this problem and that it will be money well spent as if successful it could reduce the obesity bill for the nation as well as improve the overall productivity of UK.