Action plan for UK’s obesity launched

The Obesity Health Alliance has launched a 10 point policy manifesto warning that the government must get a handle on the UK’s obesity epidemic.

The alliance warns that unless action is taken immediately, the NHS will find itself in irreversible financial trouble, and is urging each political party to make tackling obesity a priority, especially for children, where obesity levels are at the highest ever level. More than one in five children are overweight or obese in their first year of primary school and this rises to over one in three by the time they leave.

Obesity is estimated to cost the NHS at least £5.1 billion a year, equivalent to the salary of 165,000 nurses or 85,000 hospital doctors. Additionally, the estimated cost is similar to carrying out 116,000 heart transplants or nearly 730,000 hip replacements.

Acknowledging the positive effect of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and targets to reduce sugar from foods commonly eaten by children, 41 leading health campaigners have urged that momentum continue.

The 10 proposed recommendations include: protecting children from all junk food marketing; the levy on sugary drinks; reduced sugar, saturated fat, and salt in food; fewer promotions and displays of unhealthy food; traffic light labelling on all processed foods; healthy meals in schools and teaching children how to cook; local authorities to have freedom to take action on obesity in their area; healthy food available in hospitals; full obesity training for health and social care professionals; and funding for child measurement weight management programmes.

Caroline Cerny, Alliance lead, said: “The direct cost to the NHS of over £5 billion is shocking enough, but the true economic cost to wider society is five times as much – £27 billion annually. It makes not only moral sense to combat obesity, but clear economic sense too. As our waistlines continue to increase, so do the chances of developing devastating diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and liver disease plus associated mental health problems.”