The sister of a Midland schoolgirl who weighed SEVENTEEN STONE when she suddenly died has called on the food industry to make health-ier products. Fifteen year-old Pippa Tustin was just 5ft 2ins tall when she died of natural causes at her family home in Evesham, Worcestershire. The youngster, who had never suffered from so much as a cough or a cold, was morbidly obese when she died. At an inquest into her death, coroner Victor Round reported her size could have contributed to her early death. But her sister Samantha told the Sunday Mercury that Pippa had never over-indulged and last night hit out at the food industry for making unhealthy, fat-laden products. Typical meals the two girls enjoyed included sausages, chips, burgers and Pippas favourite - chicken nuggets. Pippa didnt eat excessively, said Samantha. People seem to thinkallsheate wasjunkfoodbut that wasnt the case. She liked the occasional McDonalds and would eat crisps andchocolate nowandagain,but she had a balanced diet. She suffered from asthma in the summer and had regular check-ups at the doctors, who never once told me they were worried about her weight. The food manufacturers shouldbemade moreawareofthe harm some of their products can do. People often dont know the fat content and number of calories in the food they eat. I think this is such an important issue for everyone nowadays. There is a lot of publicity aboutobesity-now weneedtodo something about it. Sam, who is also 5ft 2ins tall, has already started to change her own diet. She weighs 1412 stone and has lost 21 lbs since Pippa died in October last year. Ive been watching what I eat, she said. I am extremely conscious about it now. Pippas death has changed the way I look at food completely. I dont think that everyone should be stick-thin and no bigger than a supermodel. Big can be beautiful but not if it endangers your health. The girls father Philip Tustin, 49, who has brought them up on his own since his wife left when Sam was seven and Pippa was five, is still coming to terms with the tragedy. Theworstthing aboutitisthat she wasnt ill before it happened, he said. She never complained of chest pains or anything. She didnt even have a cold. I just got up as normal on the morning it happened. Pippa was usually up before me so I went in to her bedroom to see what was happening. I started to tickle her toes, thinking she had overslept, then realised something was wrong. She was plump as a child, but I just put it down to puppy fat. It was since she went to high school that her weight really did start to creep up. She was studying for her GCSEs and did a lot of work at the localchurch. Shewasalwaysvery popular. She and Sam never went anywhere without one another. Sam is not alone in her battle against the food industry. The Consumers Association has launched an action plan demanding that both the Government and food firms take steps to tackle obesity. Some 8.5 per cent of British six year-olds and 15 per cent of 15 year-olds are already obese and around one in five adults is dangerously overweight. The Associations campaigns chief Nick Stace said: Childhood obesity is spiralling out of control. Forthefirsttime inmanyyearswe now have a killer that is bigger than smoking. The cost to the economy, mostly in terms of NHS treatment and lost productivity, is put at £2.5 billion a year. Two lawsuits claiming McDonalds hid the health risks of eating Big MacsandChickenMcNuggets were thrown out by a New York court last year but the issue has not disappeared. A documentary titled Super Size Me, which chronicles the deterioratinghealthoffilm-maker Morgan Spurlock during a month eating nothing but McDonalds is due for release soon. The fast food giant last week announced it is ditching its super-size portion of fries and soft drinks amid a backlash against firms blamed for the spiralling obesity epidemic. | 
