A joint report by three leading medical groups warned that if nothing was done, a third of all British adults would be clinically obese by 2020, as well as a similar proportion of girls and a fifth of all boys.

The 50-page report -- "Storing Up Problems: The medical case for a slimmer nation" -- gives a list of recommendations, including better public education, clearer food labelling and the promotion of exercise.

"I think there can be few people in the UK who are not aware of some of the health consequences of being overweight," said Carol Black, president of the Royal College of Physicians, one of the groups which drew up the study.

"The size of the problems has been under-estimated and this report puts the problem in its true context," she said at the launch of the report in London.

The study, also drawn up by the Royal College of Physicians and the Faculty of Public Health, warned that particular attention needed to be paid to children so as to stop overweight youngsters growing into obese, unhealthy adults.

"This report highlights the terrifying health consequences of the obesity epidemic that will particularly impact on our children unless effective and coherent preventive measures are taken," said Peter Kopelman, chairman of the group which put together the report, said.

A series of recent studies have warned that the current generation of British children is the fattest ever, with many being driven to and from school and spending their leisure time watching television or playing computer games.

Wednesday's report said that the proportion of children aged two to four who were obese had almost doubled between 1989 and 1998, rising from 5 percent to 9 percent.

Among those aged six to 15, obesity rates trebled from five percent in 1990 to 16 percent in 2001.

The report was welcomed by ministers, but faced criticism from a famously rotund -- and outspoken -- member of the opposition Conservative Party.

Anne Widdicombe, who recently lost 36 pounds (16.3 kilogrammes) on a television celebrity diet programme, told one of the report's authors that the problem was exaggerated.

"I share your view that children are less active than they were but I also say to you if you go out to a playground and you look around, the norm in most playgrounds is for kids tearing round, screaming healthily," she said on BBC radio.

"God bless 'em. That is what they should be doing. Stop making everybody neurotic."

Source: Yahoo News: AFP.