The children of the world are getting fatter, sadly nowhere more so than in this country.

A report by the World Health Organisation says that four million British children are too fat, either medically obese or overweight.

We have a particular problem with obesity in this county,m especially in the west.

The report warns of an ‘absolute crisis’ in child health which is leading to rises in heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

The publicatioon o f this survey coincided with another report detailing one of the main reasons why we're becoming so sick e in this country an

We're still waiting for a 'sugar tax' to be introduced, we still do not have a sensible system for judging bow much fat and sugar is in the food we buy.

Different labels use different methods of informing us - some use the 'traffic light' design, others just list the nutritional information of the food.

There are calls for labels on some foods and drinks to carry the same horrific shock pictures that some cigarette packets carry on the health effects of smoking.

So there would be pictures of limbs lost through diabetes, rotting teeth, howe a patient looks after a heart operation, on the cover of your take-away or favourite fizzy drink.

The whole system is a mess because the food and drink industry is so powerful.

Junk food companies spend tens of millions of pounds every year on advertising for their products.

The 18 top-spending crisp, confectionery and sugary drinks brands spent more than £143million last year on advertising their products,

According to the Obesity Health Alliance, the 18 biggest spending junk food brands spent more than £140 million on advertising last year.

The Government’s Change4Life healthy eating campaign cost £5.2m.

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Even someone as well known, well-liked and well-connected as Jamie Oliver has discovered this in his campaigns for better school meals and for a sugar tax to imposed.

He wants the government to take more control, introduce tough new laws to safeguard the nation's health and more especially, protect the future of our children.

Sadly, he has not got very far.

The best, most effective way of sending any message to a producer of any description is to boycott their product.

Any drop in sales would soon register and questions would be asked why.

It doesn't mean missing out on a certain food or meal, just swap it for a different one with a slightly different taste.

We have to do it because the government seems unwilling or capable of making the changes needed to improve the situation and the nation's health.

The trouble is that the more of us who get fat and obese, the more medical attention we need and the more we cost the already bankrupt NHS in treatments and surgery.