杏吧原创

First the good news: it鈥檚 modern life that makes us fat, not innate greed. Now the bad news: there鈥檚 no 鈥渟ilver bullet鈥� to make us thin again, nor any master plan for turning back the tide of obesity.

That鈥檚 the message from a major UK government report analysing the country鈥檚 obesity problem. It warns that at current rates, 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children will be obese by 2050, creating health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and blindness that will cost the National Health Service an additional 拢45.5 billion a year in treatment.

The Foresight report, launched in London on Tuesday, is the result of a two-year study into the causes of obesity in the UK. It says that because our bodies are evolved to cope with food scarcity and hard physical work, we鈥檝e been caught out by the glut of food and lack of exercise characteristic of modern western life so we put on weight without realising it until it鈥檚 too late.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been caught out by the glut of food and lack of exercise in modern life鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e coined the phrase passive obesity,鈥� says David King, the government鈥檚 chief scientific adviser. 鈥淭he net result is that you put a tiny bit of weight on each day, but over 365 days it builds up.鈥�

A scientific working group has been appointed to urgently prepare a national action plan. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have much time,鈥� says King. Nor has any other country produced a successful 鈥渕odel鈥� solution to copy, he adds.