| " BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A majority of adults are obese or overweight in most European Union nations and kids increasingly contributing to make Europe a fat continent, the EU's top public health official said Wednesday. " " Bad diets based on fatty and sweet ingredients combined with physical laziness by now account for six of the seven top factors leading to bad health, Kyprianou said. " " The EU Commission has warned governments for years to do something about the culture of flab, but the situation is getting worse. "Everybody has to be blamed -- including the authorities, including the industry, including the consumers." " " His biggest worry at the moment is the increasing girth of kids. "If we don't act, today's overweight children will be tomorrow's heart attack victims," he said. " " In the 27-nation bloc, the EU says that over 21 million children are overweight. "Even more worrying is that the rate of increase of that number is more than 400,000 children a year." " " To counter the trend, the EU has already asked food multinationals to promote more healthy foods and says it has already obtained commitments to make many popular products. " " But consumers consciously make bad choices too. Around the Mediterranean, a healthy diet based on olive oil and fresh fish is on the wane. " " "Now the biggest problem of obesity is in the Southern member states who have abandoned the Mediterranean diet and go for same kind of nutrition of fast food as elsewhere," Kyprianou said. " " Overall, the consumption of fruit and vegetables is lower than medical recommendations.
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