This week the UK’s Health Committee published their report on childhood obesity setting out what action needs to be taken to tackle this ever increasing problem.  The report states that the scale of the problem requires “bold and urgent action from the Government.”

From the report we learn that a fifth of children in the UK are overweight or obese when they begin school and by the time they leave primary school a third will be overweight or obese. They also noted that deprived children are twice as likely to be obese than the least deprived children and therefore obesity is a significant contributor to health inequality.

The report also highlights the cost of obesity. Treating obesity and its consequences costs the NHS £5.1bn every year. Obesity is the main risk factor for a number of disease including diabetes and the cost of diabetes to the NHS is  £8.8bn a year.

Through their research into this area, the committee found that there are very few interventions aimed at overweight or obese children. They state that the evidence shows that healthy living campaigns tend to help those who are already making healthy choices and are not reaching those that need them.

The health committee have made a number of recommendations that focus on changing our food environment because evidence suggests this is where the most attention is needed. Their nine recommendations include:
–  Strong controls on price promotions of unhealthy food and drink
–  Tougher controls on marketing and advertising of unhealthy food and drink
–  A centrally led reformulation programme to reduce sugar in food and drink
–  A sugary drinks tax on full sugar soft drinks, in order to help change behaviour, with all proceeds targeted to help those children at greatest risk of obesity
–  Labelling of single portions of products with added sugar to show sugar content in teaspoons
–  Improved education and information about diet
–  Universal school food standards
–  Greater powers for local authorities to tackle the environment leading to obesity
–   Early intervention to offer help to families of children affected by obesity and further research into the most effective interventions

We are in support of the above recommendations as obesity is a significant problem in the black community and by taking these actions we can begin to change our community’s behaviour and improve our health.

You can download the full report below.