OBESE people are said to have cost the NHS in Herefordshire more than £46 million last year.

The massive bill came from dealing with illnesses such as heart disease and cancer related to obesity, and is expected to rise steeply to £51.4 million in the next few years unless action is taken.

Herefordshire Primary Care Trust said the new figures had shown for the first time the cost of obesity to the county.

Dr Akeem Ali, director of public health, described it as the curse of modern life and the biggest single challenge facing health care in the UK.

The blame lay with eating too much, not enough exercise, no time to cook healthy meals from scratch and sitting in front of a TV for too long, he said.

The PCT and Herefordshire Council are planning to launch a campaign this autumn called Change4Life, targeting families and children to find a healthier lifestyle.

Their concerns include parents not recognising their children as overweight and underestimating how much unhealthy and convenience food they buy.

A new toolkit for developing local strategies called Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives can be downloaded at dh.gov.uk/obesity