Researchers have proved for the very first time that being overweight can raise the risk of heart disease as well as diabetes and high blood pressure. A large-scale study, conducted on 200,000 people by a team at Uppsala University in Sweden, proved that an increase of one unit of Body Mass Index, between four and 12lbs depending on height, makes people at least 20 per cent more likely to develop heart failure.

The group also analyzed whether an alteration in a gene, that regulates hunger and increases BMI, was also linked to cardiovascular diseases. Dr Tove Fall said that obesity and cardiovascular disease often occur together and it has been hard to determine whether increased BMI as such is dangerous.