Read: Obesity-linked hospital admissions pass one million for first time

Hospital admissions linked to obesity in England topped one million for the first time last year, according to NHS figures.

In 2019-20 there were 1.02 million admissions for which obesity was either the primary or secondary cause, an increase of 17 per cent on the year before. Conditions are likely to have included heart, lung and kidney disease, which are all linked to being overweight.

The figure was 600 per cent higher than a decade earlier. In 2009-10 there were only 142,219 admissions recorded as linked to obesity.

Women accounted for two thirds of the admissions reported by NHS Digital, which were also generally more common in older age groups.

While some of the increase will be down to better recording, experts say they are concerned about the potential for high levels of obesity to add to the strain on NHS services.

Separate statistics show that 27 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women are obese, and 9 per cent of adults are classed as inactive.

Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, told the BBC that obesity was “the strongest risk factor for diabetes”.

Read the full story in The Times.

Good health and well-being is one of 14 Levelling Up Goals launched to set out clear objectives for the UK's Levelling Up challenge.