Study: Most British adults are overweight

OXFORD, England, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A British scientist estimates it will take at least 30 years to reverse the problem of obesity in the United Kingdom.

Klim McPherson, a visiting professor of public health epidemiology at the University of Oxford, believes if current trends continue, at least 86 percent of British men and 70 percent of British women will be obese within less than 20 years.

McPherson and Tim Marsh, associate director of Britain's National Heart Forum, are co-authors of a government report that found obesity is a much more passive phenomenon than is often assumed. The report finds the majority of U.K. adults today are overweight, and as a result obesity is becoming normalized.

British government spending linked with obesity is predicted to triple in less than a decade, with total costs reaching $93 billion by 2050.