About 22 mln children in Europe are overweight

Europe has almost 22 million overweight children, and a further 1.3 million will be overweight or obese by 2010, according to a report by the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted on Tuesday.

The report called for an earlier start of measures to prevent obesity. Remedies include clearer food labeling, better food in schools and kindergartens, restrictions on advertising unhealthy food to children.

The report recommends a multi-level, comprehensive approach to fighting obesity, which has resulted disease approaching epidemic proportions.

Obesity already accounts directly for about 6 percent of health spending, but the indirect costs are much higher, says the report.

"Obesity is one of Europe's most serious public health problems, because it significantly increases the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers," according to a press release by the parliament.

Since childhood obesity correlates closely with obesity in adults, the commission and other stakeholders should make fighting it their priority, said the report.

"School curricula should be designed to ensure that physical exercise and a balanced diet become part of every child's behavior," the press release said.

The committee also called for other measures to prevent obesity, including an EU-wide ban on artificial trans-fatty acids, saying that excessive consumption of trans-fatty acids (over 2 percent of total energy intake) is linked to significantly higher cardiovascular risks.