SAM Allardyce has warned his players off the sweets as he bids to ensure Britain’s ‘fat culture’ does not hinder Blackburn Rovers’ fight for Premier League survival.

South African striker Benni McCarthy has had his critics over his levels of fitness this season but, ahead of tonight’s crucial trip to Fulham, Allardyce admits it is not just him who has to fight the flab.

The Rovers boss insists the weighty issue with a few of his squad cannot be solved by imposing new harsh fitness regimes on them though, but instead by keeping a strict eye on what they eat.

McCarthy and co travel to Craven Cottage tonight desperate for maximum points to lift them out of the relegation zone and Allardyce insists every measure will be taken to ensure they are primed for the battle ahead.

He said: “Benni could be a little bit better weight wise.

"We have talked about that privately, I don’t know how or why that has ended up in the paper.

"It is not just Benni here who has to drop a few levels in body fat, there are more than him.

“But because it is Benni, it gets in the paper. It is the scientific part of it all.

"Slim-looking people can be carrying much more body fat than you think.

“We need to get him to get rid of that little bit more body fat so he is a bit more mobile for us and hopefully score more goals and have another player that can get into double figures this year.

“There are a lot of different individuals and a lot of different make-ups and metabolisms that work differently than others.

"It is all about controlling the diet, not about going on a diet.

“It is about controlling the foods that you eat and when you eat them.

"Benni does all the training everyone else does, so it is not about extra training.

"It is about reducing the body fat to help him become more mobile and that bit fitter.”

The Rovers boss admits the ‘fat issue’ is not always as clear as it seems though – claiming some of the most unlikely candidates could be carrying too much body fat.

“We are very interested in muscle mass because that weighs much more than fat,” he said.

“So a player with muscle bulk on them, people would say looks overweight but he is not.

"He is the right muscle mass to be the best he can be.

“If you are not physically capable in the Premier League you can’t produce your best.

"They have all the staff they need here to achieve that goal.

“The hard thing for most players today is they, as most kids are today, are being brought up on sugars they shouldn’t be brought up on.

“These sugars are addictive, and that makes it very difficult to wean yourself of those particular sweets.

"The best thing is never to buy them so the temptation is not there.

"It is thrust upon every kid and every body in this country to be obese.

“Once they have got you hooked it is very difficult to get off the sweet-tooth scenario.”