The UK’s obesity crisis should be elevated to a national risk according to the Government’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Professor Dame Sally Davies.
In the CMO’s most recent annual report, which focuses specifically on the UK’s female population, Professor Davies cites obesity as the main ‘modifiable risk’ to life expectancy, over and above smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.
The “Health of the 51%: Women” report notes that while obesity is a general problem across the population, it can be particularly problematic to women, increasing the risk of fertility problems and miscarriage.
While a ban on advertising and better education to enable the women to make healthier food choices may help, the main solution lies in the hands of the food and drinks industry.
“The industry could solve this [obesity problem] without a tax on sugary drinks, and if they do we won’t need it” Prof Dame Sally Davies told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme. “We’ll only need it if the industry doesn’t reformulate, resize, sort their advertising out and make healthy lifestyles an easy option.”
In an article published in The Guardian at the end of October, Ian Wright, the Director General of the Food and Drink Federation corroborated Professor Davies’ argument. He said that “small business owners can help tackle obesity by reformulating their products to reduce calories”.
The UK’s biggest grocery retailer by sales, Tesco, is already on board with Prof Davies’ plans to make healthier choices easier for shoppers to make. Tim Smith, Tesco Quality Director said the retailer’s push to encourage suppliers to reduce sugar was just getting started (Marketing Magazine). Delistings of particularly sugary soft drinks, such as Ribena, in July was just the start, and the retailer plans to put pressure on manufacturers to improve the nutritional value of their products.
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