Bradford is eager to climb the league tables, but not if it means winning the dubious honour of being named as Britain's fattest city. In the five years that Men's Fitness magazine has been carrying out its survey of obesity rates, this is the first time the city has come out on top.

The increase has been alarming - up from 14.1 per cent of Bradford people qualifying as obese in 2003 to 22.2 per cent this year. The implications of that should worry us all. If a growing proportion of the population are overweight and unfit, the potential health problems will have a knock-on effect on the whole community.

The magazine blames the wrong sort of food and insufficient exercise, and says there is a shortage of parks and open spaces to encourage activity. That might well be true in some parts of the district, but in others there is plenty of countryside plus parks and playing fields.

Plenty of work is being done to counter this obesity trend. Health-care workers are striving to educate people to eat more sensibly and be more active. Bradford Council is doing sterling work through its b-active campaign to encourage more people to get fit and, through its Obesity Review Group, is working towards a strategy to tackle the problem more effectively.

At the end of the day, though, the responsibility rests with each individual to avoid fatty foods, eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and take more exercise, even if it is nothing more strenuous than walking rather than riding to the shops or to work or to take the children to school.