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Britain is now officially the fattest nation in Europe, with a greater percentage of the population obese than any other country on the continent.

Almost a quarter of all Britons are officially obese and one third of all British men will be obese by 2010, according to a recently released government health map.

The government has highlighted obesity as the biggest problem facing the overall health of the nation today.

Public health minister Caroline Flint, said: "The second big issue that we are really focusing on today is something we have been developing over the last year or so, it is understanding better why it is that despite all the information and advice around healthy living, why it is that some people have that information and use it and some people do not.

"What we have been trying to better understand is what are the obstacles that get in the way of people making these choices."

Childhood obesity in children aged two to ten years old stood at 9.9 per cent in 1995, but has risen to 14.3 per cent in 2004, according to the government figures.

And if nothing changes, then a full 20 per cent of children in this age bracket will be obese by 2010.

The health map also showed that those in the north of England are likely to die sooner that those that live in the south, as they have a higher instance of obesity and smoke more.

A small amount of dark chocolate a day can thin the blood and cut the risk of clots in much the same way as taking aspirin, US researchers have said.
Researchers carried out tests on 139 "chocoholics" who were disqualified from another study because they could not give up their habit.

Previous research has suggested that chocolate is good for the heart.

The study, by Johns Hopkins University, featured at an American Heart Association meeting in Chicago.

The Johns Hopkins team started out examining the effects of aspirin on platelets, the tiny solid particles in blood that clump together to form a clot.

However, 139 people who signed up for the study were disqualified because they were unable to give up eating chocolate as required.

Researchers have known for almost two decades that dark chocolate can lower blood pressure and has other beneficial effects on blood flow.