A QUARTER of all adults are dangerously overweight after a 75 per cent increase in obesity over the past decade.

More than eight million Britons are categorised as clinically obese, putting them at severe risk of chronic health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, according to health analysts.

Data gathered for the Health Survey for England for 2003, the latest appraisal of the nation’s health, show that 22.9 per cent of men and 23.5 per cent of women have a body mass index (BMI) rating of more than 30, the yardstick of obesity.

The number of dangerously fat women has increased by 50 per cent, the survey found, while the number of obese men has risen by almost 75 per cent.

Those women with a BMI rating of more than 40, which indicates extreme obesity, has nearly tripled since 1993 to 3 per cent of the female adult population, and 1 per cent of men have a BMI of 40 — five times the number of a decade ago.

BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight by the square of his or her height.

The obesity data within the survey, which was published in December, came to light yesterday after a request to the Department of Health under the Freedom of Information Act. The statistics, which are compiled from sample surveys throughout the country, also reveal that Co Durham and Tees Valley is the health authority with the worst weight problems, with 27.3 per cent of the adult population categorised as obese.

North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA) come second with 26.1 per cent of adults, followed by Trent (25.1 per cent), and Birmingham and the Black Country (24.9 per cent). The four SHAs with the lowest proportion of obese adults are in Southern England.

The data reinforce pleas by health campaigners for greater effort to address the diet and lifestyle of Britons, which formed a central part of the Government’s Health White Paper last November.

However, some analysts claim that the picture of “Fat Britain” being created by ministers is wildly exaggerated and based on inaccurate calculations of information gathered from people surveyed.

The Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC), an independent think-tank, concluded this month that ministers and some health lobbyists were using an outdated mathematical system to show that the country faces an epidemic in childhood obesity.

The Commons Select Committee on Health gave warning last year that by 2020 half of all children would be obese and many would probably die before their parents. It cautioned about a “doomsday scenario” where thousands lose limbs and sight from fat-related illnesses, including diabetes.

Researchers from the SIRC said that the “national standard” formula used by the Government to assess obesity — which suggests that more than 15 per cent of all children are obese — was distorting reality. They said that if the “international standard” used on the Continent was applied, fewer than 7 per cent of children were dangerously overweight. However, they did concede that the adult picture was bleak, with most children starting to gain weight after leaving school.

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