The proportion of adults in England who are overweight has soared over the past 15 years with one in four now seriously overweight.

However, the number of overweight women has fallen in recent years while the number of morbidly obese men is rising.

“Men are notoriously bad at looking after their health.”

Health experts believe the narrowing obesity gap shows how schemes to tackle the country’s weight problem are having less effect on men, with women more likely to go on diets or join a gym.They warn that the country’s obesity epidemic, caused by an increase in consumption of junk food and a decline in exercise levels, will lead to increased levels of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said: “Men are notoriously bad at looking after their health and women are much more motivated. One would expect the signs of a decrease in women.

“But things are not getting better and if anything they are going to get much worse, unless dramatic steps are taken. We’ve been building up to this obesity problem for 25 years of more and it takes a huge amount of time to slow down and turn around.”

The statistics show that the proportion of obese men rose from 13 per cent in 1993 to 24 per cent in 2006. The number of morbidly obese men has risen from 0.2 per cent of the male population to 1.5 per cent over the same period, while 43 per cent are now overweight.

By contrast, the proportion of obese women over 16 rose from 16 per cent in 2003 to 24 per cent in 2004 and fell by a fraction the following year. The number of overweight women has fallen from 34 per cent to 32 per cent since 2004.

Women can expect to live to around 70 (and men to around 68) but will spend their last six years in poor health or disability, it is claimed.

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