The European Union is to develop broad policy initiatives covering education, transport and agriculture to tackle childhood obesity, a senior official announced last week.

EU commissioner Markos Kyprianou told the European Congress on Obesity that it would also publish a strategy on diet and physical activity by the end of the year, and vowed to create a Europe-wide code of conduct to combat the marketing of unhealthy food to children.

The food industry and advertisers had already been told "very directly" that they must stop advertising food high in fat, sugar and salt to children, he added.

And he said the UK, which takes over the presidency of the EU on 1 July, had promised to continue efforts to fight childhood obesity.

He was speaking as a report from the International Obesity TaskForce said more obese and overweight children in Europe were suffering from health problems often associated with later life.