British adults have got fatter in the last 10 years with almost one in four now officially obese, according to new official statistics. In men, obesity rates almost doubled in 10 years, from 13.2 percent in 1993 to 23.6 percent in 2004, a study by the Health and Social Care Information Centre found.
For women, the increase was slightly lower, growing from 16.4 percent to 23.8 percent.
But findings that children's body mass index -- a measure of weight in relation to height -- continued to grow again raised fears that they will be larger than their parents and put an additional burden on health services.
Despite the research's gloomy picture, the number of people doing 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise at least five times a week increased in the period, from 32 to 35 percent of men and 21 to 24 percent of women.
There was also a rise in the number of people eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day.
More people kicked the smoking habit with the study showing a six percent fall in the number of male smokers from 28 percent to 22 percent.
Women in Britain now smoke more than men with the research showing a three-percent dip in female smokers between 1993 and 2004 to 23 percent.
The research involved about 8,000 adults and 2,000 children aged two to 15.
