That process could take hundreds, if not thousands, more years.

"We are facing the pressure of millions of years of mammalian evolution," he adds.

"Yet the phenomenon of a McDonalds on every street corner is only something seen in the last 20 years."

The EU has set aside 11.7 million Euros for the project, which will involve 26 leading researchers from 13 different European countries.

The study comes at a time when an estimated one billion people round the world are overweight.

The UK's Food Standards Agency will launch a public debate on the issue later this week.

It will consider calls for food manufacturers to be banned from targeting children in adverts.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has already asked the new television regulator Ofcom to look into the issue.

Ms Jowell, a former minister for public health, has said she is concerned about the rising rates of obesity in children.

The EU researchers hope to identify five or six new targets within the brain that could be used to develop new anti-obesity drugs.

One way might be to come up with a way of making fat cells burn up more calories by overriding the brain's control systems.

Professor Seckl said: "Before we can develop good medicines to stop the obesity epidemic, we need to understand how the body's own hormones regulate appetite and body weight."

But the project also touches on the sensitive question of whether millions of pounds should be spent developing drugs to treat obesity, rather than preventing it in the first place.

Scientists are acutely aware of the debate over whether obesity is an 'illness', or a self-induced state.

"There is a question-mark over whether we should be interfering with things like appetite," said Professor Seckl.

"A lot of people, and I am one of them, worry about that.

"But I see people all the time who are overweight and are driving themselves to distraction because they cannot diet effectively.

"Very few people, probably no more than 10% - 15%, are able to diet successfully and keep the weight off.

"Simply telling people not to eat does not really work."

Source: BBC News.

February News Article Index