Battle of the Bulge

The government described the fight against obesity and obesity-related illnesses as "one of the biggest political challenges for public health and nutrition in the coming decades."

With a five-point action plan "Fit Instead of Fat," the government agreed on Wednesday to promote more active lifestyles and encourage Germans to pay more attention to their nutritional needs.

"This is really simply about what's the right way to eat," said Germany's minister for food, agriculture and consumer protection, Horst Seehofer.

According to government statistics, around 37 million adults and around two million children in Germany are overweight. One fourth of adult Germans suffer from cardiovascular diseases, while there are around four million diabetics in the country.

One in five German women and one in seven men have chronic back pain. The annual costs of treating nutrition-related illnesses amount to 70 billion euros ($95.3 billion), which is 30 percent of Germany's overall health costs.

A plan to shape up

Health minister Ulla Schmidt said that many Germans know what constitutes a healthy lifestyle, but are not necessarily actively pursuing it.

"That's why we need a plan that would involve everybody," Schmidt said.

The government's obesity prevention strategy calls on politicians, scientists, sports clubs, health-care providers, unions and the food industry to join in the battle to get Germans to shape up.

According to the plan, nutritional information should be more readily available on all kinds of food products. Kindergartens, schools, universities and hospitals should also pay more attention to the kinds of food they serve in their cafeterias.

The ultimate goal of the strategy is to improve public health and stop the increasing obesity rates among children by 2020.

Fattest Europeans

The new initiative was spurred by a study released by the International Association for the Study of Obesity. It found that among EU countries, Germany has the most overweight women and men. Among adults, the study found that 58.9 percent of German women are overweight; 75.4 percent of men tip the scales.

Running a close second among women was the UK, where 58.5 percent of women are overweight. Among men, the Czech Republic came in second. The thinnest Europeans of both sexes live in Italy and France.

Beer, fatty foods and a lack of physical activity are the main culprits behind Germans' expanding waistlines, according to experts, and the rates of obese and overweight Germans now match those of Americans.