More than two thirds of men and half of women now have a weight problem.
The study also reveals a third of children in the region were overweight in 2007 - with figures up by more than five per cent in the last 10 years.
The new data shows 75 people from the north west had drastic weight loss surgery - stomach stapling or stomach band operations - in 2008.
Nationally there was a 40 per cent increase in such surgery last year.
The government figures also reveal 15,345 people were admitted to the region's hospitals with obesity-related conditions from April 2007 to March 2008.
Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "Obesity is the biggest health challenge we face - we are taking tough action and are investing £372m to address it.
"Our Change4Life campaign, launched last month, has kick-started a lifestyle revolution to help every family eat better and be more active. Whether to prescribe drugs or recommend surgery is rightly a clinical decision.
"Government guidance on obesity recommends that drugs and surgery should always be a last resort - a better diet and more exercise should be tried first."
Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forumsaid the jump in surgery for obesity was `horrific'.
"Rather than being a last resort, surgery is becoming the first option," he said. "The only way of clearing up this problem is to prevent it happening in the first place and that means the government has got to start focusing on pre-school children and even pregnancy and breast feeding." Tweet
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Where have all the school playing fields gone, taken as sites for so called junk food restaurants I guess.
People need educating about food in schools. When I was at school our home economic classes consisted of making chocolate crispies and biscuits and finished when I got to the 4th year.
Scrap the rubbish subjects and make people learn life skills instead. Make it a compulsary subject instead of RE which is completely pointless in my opinion.
Young people today have no idea about nutrition, money and morals. My 20 year old sister asked my mum the other week if a 30% credit card was a good deal!!! people go round stabbing each other instead of having a fair fight and kids are just getting fatter and fatter!
Well maybe the government should set examples and lose some weight themselves! Half of them are over weight!!!
Obesity is a personal problem. The government should stay out of it as far as possible by refusing benefits to those unable to work from obesity related diseases and restricting obesity related health care to these people to the absolute minimum. For example, nobody should get expensive stomach stapling operations on the NHS or free drugs for obesity related diabetes. We could cancel the driving licences of those requiring NHS treatment for obesity so that they'd be forced to walk more or even run for a bus. The way the system works now a grossly obese person would probably qualify for a motability car paid for by the taxpayers! Madness.
A harsh approach forcing people to be more self-reliant about this issue will have much more of an effect than any well-meaning, expensive government scheme. We have government schemes for all sorts of social problems - truancy, drink, drugs, yobbishness etc and none of them do any good.
A member of the public said on tv yesterday that she hardly ever sees elderly obese people. They mostly go well before their time. That was a good message.
vns82 why do we always come back to everything being the responsibility of the government. We are ultimately responsible for ourselves and our children. Good parenting is rapidly declining, manners,morals and respect should be taught at home and backed up in school.Ever heard the expression 'spare the rod and spoil the child'. Ignorance breeds ignorance.
Exactly JCP. The problem with socialism is that people will conveniently shrug off responsibility, declaring it's the job of the government. It's human nature.
Bring back personal responsibility. The State is not your parent or mentor. They will NEVER EVER have enough resources to be that for everyone. And looking at this government of the last 12 years, who wants them to be?
Everything seems to be blamed on the government nowadays, parents should be the role models, but have you seen some of the parents nowadays?
It was my parents who taught me chips are bad, jacket potatoes are good and sweets are bad but fruit is good.
It was my parents who taught me not to go having sex with everyone I met, and that if I did then to use protection.
It was my parents who taught me before I started school to do some reading and some simple sums.
It was my parents who taught me not to steal or attack people.
It was my parents who taught me to earn what I wanted rather than scrounging off others.
I did not need the government to teach me these things so why should others?
People should not become parents if they do not want to live up to the associated responsibilities.
That photograph has put me off my large mixed kebab and stake and kidney pie chaser...
why do I need to be educated because I am large person.....
I actually eat very well with pasta, salads, etc on regular occurrences, but where I go wrong, is that my job is desk bound and I do not earn enough to get to a gym or exercise regularly enough because of the high costs.
But then again, why do I want to go a gym where there is so many posers!!!
"I do not earn enough to get to a gym or exercise regularly enough because of the high costs."
Oldest excuse in the book!! walk, run, box, run up and down the stairs do anything... if you want to do exercise you can this is just a lazy excuse.
Umpire - it costs nothing to walk...or even run round the block!
In an effort to impose its behaviour agenda, the Government creates these panics, irrespective of the actual figures.
The most recent study, independent of Goverment propoganda, carried out by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London (UCL), does not support the Government position of alarmism.
'That photograph has put me off my large mixed kebab and stake and kidney pie chaser... '
Gumball, have you thought about going on Come GluttonsorryDine With Me?!