Some 700,000 British schoolchildren are obese and a further two million are overweight due to their couch-potato lifestyles and junk-food diets, claims the latest study into the issue.
Over one in four girls and one in five boys are fatter than they should be, due mainly to the number of hours spent sitting in front of computers and TVs, eating extremely poor diets, states the International Obesity Taskforce.
And it is only now that doctors and politicians are becoming aware of the massive health timebomb the nation will be dealing with in ten to 20 years' time.
Along with the onset of the digital age, where parents happily sit their children in front of the TV or computer to keep them happy, the decline in school playing fields and green space means children are running around and playing outside much less than they used to.
Quoted in the Daily Mail, lead author of the study Dr Tim Lobstein said: "We are now becoming aware of the amount of disease that we are likely to be dealing with in ten to 20 years time.
"It is hidden in these children and it is only as young adults that we will start to see the effects as heart disease leads to heart failure and diabetes manifests itself."
He called for major prevention efforts to help stem the growth of obesity and educate both parents and children in the effects of their lifestyles before it is too late.
He said: "We have got to work on prevention as we really don't have very good treatments for these chronic diseases.
"You cannot easily reverse heart disease and we don't have a drug regime for Type 2 diabetes that has been tested for children."