Britain has 1.5 mn obese adults

London, Aug 24 (IANS) Britain has around 1.5 million adults who can be classed as "morbidly obese", The Sun reported Friday.

Weight loss operations in the country have soared by a whopping 530 percent in the last six years, it quoted government figures as saying.

According to data released by the National Health Service (NHS), thousands of people are too fat to get out their own homes or beds and face premature death, disease and disability, The Sun said.

There were 5,407 gastric bypass operations last year, compared to 858 in 2006. Gastric band operations went up from 715 to 1,316.

The operations cost 5,000 to 7,000 pounds each.

In six years, British surgeons carried out a total of 26,227 operations to reduce weight of obese people.

The gastric band operation involves reducing the size of the stomach with a band fitted around it, while a gastric bypass re-routes food to a small stomach pouch.