Sugar-loaded drinks and snacks are fuelling the obesity crisis for children. Simon Stevens, the head of the National Health Service is warning parents to stop 'poisoning' their children with cancer-causing fizzy drinks and sweets.

Youngsters should have water or milk rather than softdrinks and juice if they want a thirst-quencher after school, said Stevens.

He said that obesity is ‘the new smoking' and said that parents should be responisble to not put their children at risk of diseases linked to weight gain like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

"We've done very well in terms of cutting smoking and teenage pregnancy and drink driving," Stevens said. "But the new smoking is obesity. One in five cancer deaths is now caused by obesity."

He also believed that the food industry ‘has a huge responsibility' to provide healthier alternatives and he is reaching out to the responisble retailers.

"Responsible retailers, food producers can smell the coffee here. They can see public attitudes are changing. If that doesn't happen then in effect what we're doing is a slow burner food poisoning through all of this sugar that goes on to cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease. That's what we're doing to our kids, we've got to top it."

The percentage of overweight children is growing at an alarming rate. Many kids are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, and playing video games.

Parents have become more busy and have less time to prepare home-cooked meals, therefore they opt for fast food not knowing the risk that they put their children in to.

Childhood obesity is something to be taken seriously because the extra pounds often start children on the path to health problems that are meant for adults. It can also lead to poor self-esteem and depression.