NOW there’s a surprise. Research by obesity experts in the US shows that snacking and “super-sizing” are the worst enemies when it come to weight control.

Well, fancy that. Who would have thought it? I never realised that stuffing your face with a double cheeseburger and fries washed down by a gloopy milkshake would whack the weight up.

And here’s me thinking that stopping off at the drive-through after a canter round Tesco’s (exercising with a trolley is the new pilates, don’t you know) was just the trick needed to get the energy levels back up before breaking out the pizza and chips for tea.

I sometimes wonder about research credibility when those undertaking it are stating the blindingly obvious, because it doesn’t take a degree in biology or whatever it is you need to study fat people to understand that if you eat or drink too much you pile on the pounds and that if you keep snacking on choccy biccies or bags of ready salted your girth will spread to button-popping proportions.

Nevertheless, this latest round of what-shall-we-do-about-the-obesity-time-bomb shows that the average daily calorie intake in the States has increased by almost a third in 30 years to more than 2,300 calories. And everywhere the US went, the UK lamb was sure to follow… Obesity levels have soared in the west since the 1970s – in the US alone a third of all adults, some 72 million people are classed as obese.

All those Big Macs and dunkin’ of doughnuts. All those fast-food fat cats making money out of people getting fat. And I bet none of their corporate responsibility funds find their way into weight reduction programmes, although they might feel good lounging around the board room table for funding sporting ventures. Clears their corporate conscience, anyway.

Although to be fair, they’re not exactly lining people up and ramming burger buns down their throats, are they? People are managing that all by themselves and our health service is reaping the consequences.

Only last week, an audit of patients in England and Wales concluded that the NHS is sitting on a diabetes time bomb with basic checks not being carried out, increasing the risk of chronic health complications later.

And given that there is a direct correlation between being overweight and developing Type 2 diabetes, it’s easy to see that devouring mega portions at mealtimes and snacking in between is bad for your health in more ways than one.

Cases of Type 2 are rocketing through the stratosphere, particularly in deprived communities, which rather suggests that frozen chips and beans accompanied by plastic bread are the order of the day rather than chicken salad, fresh fruit and wholemeal wraps. Which then brings other factors into the equation such as cost. If you’re skint and have hungry mouths to feed you’re going to bargain hunt the cheapest options in the supermarket. And that’s not making a beeline for the organic veg and free-range chickens.

But that still doesn’t take account of those who couldn’t give a stuff and just stuff themselves stupid with cholesterol-laden rubbish that thickens up their arteries as well as their waistbands. And we have to pay for it when they end up comatose in a hospital bed.