And the fat capital of the nation is...

The north of England has the dubious honour of being crowned the nation's fat capital.

17:00 28 October 2014

New NHS figures have revealed that all of the towns in the top eight most obesity-ridden locations (in terms of hospital stays) are in the north of England.

In County Durham the rate of treatment for the overweight was five times the national average, making it the worst location out of 155 separate NHS areas.

Obesity has been linked to poverty as it's considered that those with less money have a diet that relies more heavily on cheap junk food and booze without much or any exercise to counter their effects.

Statistics quoted by The Daily Mirror suggest that the total cost of obesity to the economy could be as high as £50billion by 2050 due to the cost of absence from work, benefits and hospital expenses.

In 2013, there were 11,000 hospital admissions - nearly 10 times the figure a decade prior.

Tam Fry, a spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said: “Every region of the North of England shows up as concerningly overweight on a “fatmap” of the country as they suffer the legacy of the disruption of the industrial economy that they once enjoyed.

“Physically demanding work has been replaced by sedentary office work and reliance on cheaper and less-than-healthy processed food - coupled with barriers to taking the recommended hours of exercise - has made keeping to a healthy lifestyle difficult to attain for thousands of families.

“The large towns of the North East have shouldered the greatest burden and the legacy shows up dramatically in the number of people requiring bariatric surgery.

“Though many people criticise these operations as a drain on the NHS, it is actually quite the reverse.

"Operations pay for themselves within two years by patients not acquiring even more expensive treatment for weight-related diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular problems and some cancers.

"Surgery is a win-win procedure though I fervently regret that it was ever required.”