An alarming new report shows that the party lifestyle of Britain's teenagers is destroying their health.

Christen Pears reports on the public health timebomb.

TODAY'S teenagers are overweight, addicted to cigarettes and drugs, ridden with sexual diseases and heading for an early grave. This is the bleak picture painted by the British Medical Association in a new report on adolescent health.

With one in five 15-year-olds now obese, the next generation is sliding rapidly into ill health and will have a shorter lifespan than their parents or grandparents.

The number of obese children has doubled since 1982, with around ten per cent of six-year-olds now obese. Among 15-year-olds, the figure rises to 17 per cent, putting them at an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer in later life.

This rise is blamed on increasingly sedentary lifestyles, with children spending more time in front of the TV and computer games and less time taking part in physical exercise. Convenience meals and fast food have also been blamed for youngsters' ever-expanding waistbands.

The number of children drinking, taking drugs and smoking is also rising, with a quarter of 15 and 16-year-olds regular smokers. Sexually transmitted diseases are spreading rapidly among teenagers. Chlamydia, which can make sufferers infertile if left untreated, affects as many as one in ten women aged 16 to 19.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, describes the decline in adolescent health as a "potential public health timebomb".

The findings are shocking but, according to Dr Tricia Cresswell, director of public health at Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust, not surprising.

"There has been awareness of the issues around adolescent health for some time now but this report pulls them all together. It is alarming but we have to get it into perspective and look at the wider issues," she says.

She believes the choices youngsters make are influenced by their opportunities and factors such as poverty, family and education.

'Some young people make choices to take drugs or eat unhealthily but we want to avoid blaming them. They make those choices based on what luck they have had in the past but there is plenty we can do to help them make the right choices."

Various government strategies have been launched in recent years to tackle the concerns highlighted in the report, including campaigns to encourage people to stop smoking and the "five a day" scheme to get people to eat more fruit and vegetables.

The Commons health committee is currently holding an inquiry into obesity, with fast food bosses, supermarket heads and health and fitness experts contributing to the discussion.

In May, the Department of Health and the Home Office launched a £3m campaign to tackle drug abuse - the first campaign aimed at parents and carers, as well as teenagers, to provide information and support about drugs.

But the BMA says it is not enough. The organisation wants more money to be invested in services specifically for adolescents, which it says are stuck in a "no man's land" between child and adult health services.

Dr Nathanson says: "Young people in Britain are increasingly likely to be overweight, indulge in binge drinking, have a sexually transmitted infection and suffer mental health problems.

"It is high time we provided education and healthcare services that target the specific need of young people."

The Government is also under increasing pressure to deal with the problem of child obesity and lack of exercise, although effective answers to the situation have been slow in coming.

Last week, former Health Secretary, Darlington MP Alan Milburn called for Government action to stem the tide of rising obesity. Speaking at a health conference in Oxford, he said new laws should ban fatty and sugary foods if the food industry refuses to act to prevent an obesity epidemic.

He suggested that vending machines selling fast food, soft drinks and sweets be removed from schools to prevent youngsters from being tempted, and demanded a national summit within 12 months to improve diet, bringing together the NHS, consumer groups, retailers and the food industry.

Dr Cresswell says: "Children tend to eat food that is high in calories but low in nutritional value. There has been a change in society and those sorts of foods - snacks and fizzy drinks - that weren't available 30 years ago are now available in large quantities. Children are also doing far less exercise.

"We need to educate them about healthy eating. There's nothing wrong with having chips once a week but having chips every day causes a problem. There has to be a balance."

One of the most alarming sections of the BMA report deals with sexual health. More than half of teenagers admitted they did not use condoms, leading to a surge in the number of sexually transmitted diseases. They are too young to remember the hard-hitting safe sex campaigns of the 1980s and early 1990s that increased public awareness of HIV/AIDS.

Education and access to health services must be improved, but most teenagers dislike the thought of going to their GP, particularly when sexual health or drugs and alcohol are involved. One alternative, currently being explored by PCTs, including Durham and Chester-le-Street, are clinics outside the NHS environment, in community venues or schools.

"One of the problems is that the children who have most difficulties aren't regularly in school, but we know that where there are services, young people do access them," says Dr Cresswell.

"Some schools worry about promoting moral messages but the evidence is that if you give information in a non-judgemental way, they are more likely to make sensible choices."

Another major health threat is smoking. While the number of adult smokers is decreasing, a quarter of 15 and 16-year-olds now smoke, often influenced by celebrities and peer pressure. The BMA is calling for the price of cigarettes to rise year on year to make them less affordable. They also want tobacco to be made less available, which could involve banning cigarette vending machines and sales in certain types of shop.

For Dr Cresswell, one of the keys to improving health is encouraging youngsters to form good habits at an early age.

"By the time you're a teenager, it's much more difficult to change. We have to get the message across to children when they're young. If we don't, we're facing an uphill struggle."