IRISH MEN STAND FAT CHANCE SAYS REPORT

IRELAND'S men are the second fattest in Europe, a shock new report has revealed.

Now experts fear Ireland's obesity problem could affect nearly three-quarters of the population within 15 years.

The condition is threatening to overtake smoking as the country's number one preventable killer, and GPs are ill-prepared to deal with the problem, experts claim.

A meeting of European obesity experts was told that many overweight teens risk going blind or needing kidney transplants as a result of diabetes in their 30s, imposing huge demands on the health service.

Obesity is already costing Ireland millions in medical treatment. That figure will soar as the number of people dying from fat-related diseases triples to 100,000 a year.

The latest warning comes in a report to an EU meeting on obesity in Denmark.

It coincides with an International Obesity Task Force league table revealing that British women are the fattest in Europe while British men are the third fattest after Irish and Finnish men.

One of the report's authors, Professor Philip James, said: "We've completely under-estimated the enormous impact of what's going on.

"Governments have the major responsibility in this."

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