OBESITY will overtake smoking to become Lancashire’s biggest health challenge in the next five years, says Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Describing statistics that show one in five 11-year-olds are clinically obese as a “national scandal”, Mr Hunt said the NHS needs to move from focusing on cures to promoting prevention of health problems.

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His comments echoed the view of NHS chief executive Simon Stevens, who has said that obesity is “the new smoking” and urged people to take their personal health more seriously.

Mr Hunt said: “That is the big change that we need to see in the NHS over this Parliament - a move from a focus on cure to a focus on prevention.

“And probably during this Parliament we will see the biggest single public health challenge change from smoking to obesity.

“I think it is still a national scandal that one in five 11-year-olds are clinically obese and we need to do something to tackle that.”