The costs of dealing with a growing obesity epidemic could bankrupt the National Health Service, doctors said on Friday.

Dealing with obese people costs as much as nine percent of a country’s health service budget, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.

According to the most recent figures, Britain has the highest obesity rate in Europe, with one in five adults classed as obese. That could rise to one in three, said the study, written by Naveed Sattar, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at Glasgow University, and other colleagues.

“The problem of rising prevalence in obesity may get much worse - rates could climb still further, bankrupting the health system and leading soon to reductions in life expectancy,” they said in the report.

Dealing with obese and overweight people in England costs the NHS as much as 7.4 billion pounds a year.

The doctors urged the government to put pressure on the food industry to promote less fattening food and curtail advertising of unhealthy snacks.

“Given people’s increasing reliance on processed and precooked food, the industry needs to assume much more responsibility for preventing obesity,” they said in their report.

They also called for better education in schools on nutrition and physical activity.

Even the medical profession needed more training on obesity and nutrition-related diseases, they added.

Another suggestion was a helpline number for larger people that could be put on all clothes sold with waistlines over a certain measurement.

Earlier this week, Britain’s medical watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), said obesity was a greater threat to the nation’s health than poverty, drinking or smoking.