UK Government could be first in world to reverse rise in obesity levels

A new report from a coalition of health organisations and experts has called on the Government to take action to reverse the increasingly high levels of excess weight in the population. No other country in the world has managed this across the population to date.

Worldwide levels of obesity have nearly tripled since 1975. Currently in England, 64 per cent of adults have a weight classed as either overweight or obese with 28 per cent of them living with obesity.

This compares to 53 per cent and 15 per cent in 1993.

In the last 30 years, there have been 14 government health strategies that have set targets for obesity reduction, containing 689 policy recommendations – yet many of these were not fully implemented or evaluated and focused on relying on individuals to change their behaviour, rather than addressing the structural drivers of obesity.

Change is possible

The Obesity Health Alliance (OHA), a coalition including us, Cancer Research UK, Diabetes UK and medical royal colleges, brought together a group of leading clinicians, academic and policy specialists to assess the evidence related to the multiple factors that influence healthy weight.

‘Turning the Tide: A 10-year Healthy Weight Strategy’ emphasises that change is possible, with a system-wide approach that includes multiple policies that work together to both change the environment and provide support to individuals.

The OHA is calling on the Government first to ensure the full implementation of long-awaited new policies included in the Health and Care Bill, such as the 9pm watershed on junk food adverts on TV and removing paid for adverts online. These should be implemented in full and without any further delays or watering down.

The OHA also recommends that the Government builds on existing policy approaches by phasing out other forms of influential junk food marketing including child friendly packaging and sports sponsorship.

Further action is also needed to support people living with obesity, such as mandating weight management services in every area of the country and ensuring psychological services are available.

What we say

John Maingay, our director of policy and influencing said: “Evidence shows that introducing bold policies to create a healthier environment for everyone, is the route to improving our nation’s health.

“After years of focusing on education and awareness measures, the UK Government has started to move in the right direction with an obesity strategy which focuses on making the healthy option the easy option.

“We must now build on this with forward thinking policies, such as taxing companies to encourage them to produce healthier food.

“This will set in train the positive change we need to reduce the devastating impact obesity has in the UK today.”

Obesity increases the risk of developing a range of chronic conditions, including type-2 diabetes, heart disease, liver disease and cancer.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OBESITY