EU population: 50% overweight

HALF of the population in most EU countries is now overweight or obese while an increasing number of children are dangerously heavy.

But proposals by the European Commission to tackle the problem were criticised as being totally inadequate by consumer groups yesterday who described the white paper as being more like a blank paper.

An estimated three million schoolchildren are now obese and this is increasing by about 85,000 a year. Obesity levels have trebled in the last 25 years, according to the World Health Organisation.