Childhood obesity report ‘watered down’, health bosses say

Health bosses have criticised the government’s recently published obesity strategy as ‘watered down’ and a step back from promises which were initially made.

The review includes a voluntary target for manufacturers to cut sugar in children’s food and drink by 20 per cent, and a drive for primary schools to encourage each child takes part in an hour’s exercise a day.

While the ultimate target is to reduce sugar by 20 per cent, the government’s proposal maintains that the food and drink industry should cut five per cent of the sugar in their products over the next year.

The report suggested that the sugar reduction could be achieved by making portions smaller.

A tax on sugary drinks is set to come into force in 2018, with some of the funding raised due to go towards school sports and school breakfast clubs.

The strategy said that: Public Health England (PHE) will set targets for sugar content per 100g, and calorie caps for certain products; PHE will report on whether the industry is reducing sugar content through the voluntary scheme. If insufficient progress is made, the government will consider ‘whether alternative levers need to be used’; and a new voluntary ‘healthy schools rating scheme’ will be taken into account during school inspections.

Professor Parveen Kumar, chairwoman of the BMA's board of science, claimed the government had ‘borowed back on its promises by announcing what looks like a weak plan rather than the robust strategy it promised.

She added: “Although the government proposes targets for food companies to reduce the level of sugar in their products, the fact that these are voluntary and not backed up by regulation, renders them pointless.

However, Ian Wright, of the Food and Drink Federation, argued: "Soft drink companies are already making great progress to reduce sugars from their products, having achieved a 16 per cent reduction between 2012 and 2016.

"Indeed, many individual manufacturers have a proud track record of reformulation to remove salt, fat and sugar from food and drinks and this work will continue."