The Britain Imbalanced: Why now is the time to tackle obesity in Britain report published by think tank Policy Exchange, makes a number of recommendations prevent the rise of obesity and promote physical activity.
A tax on sugary drinks; clear and understandable labelling on food and drink; incentives to schools to run breakfast clubs; and annual and better measurements for children aged four to 11, are amongst the recommendations.
James Cracknell, author of the report, said: “1 in 5 children leaving primary school are obese and critically, of those 11 year olds, 82% will go on to be obese adults. This is a national crisis that has severe ramifications on peoples’ lives and on society as a whole.
“The human misery and drain on the public finances is so great that the government has no option but to intervene to give people who are severely obese the help they desperately need. There will be inevitable opposition to what will be labelled as nannying, but the same was true of the reaction to legislation on seat belts and drink-driving.
“At the same time, it is important to introduce a range of other measures to combat obesity including clear and easy to understand labelling on food and drink packaging and more incentives for schools to run breakfast clubs.”
Cracknell points to evidence in the British Medical Journal which found that when Mexico introduced a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks in 2014, purchases fell by 12% in the first year.
He says that where there are very strong arguments against a general sugar tax, there is increasingly less resistance among the public to imposing one on sugary drinks, especially as recent research points to one sugary drink a day being linked to a 30% increase in high-risk body fat.
Cracknell also argues that the public discourse over obesity has to move on from simply one of weight to well-being. He says that letters sent to parents effectively ‘fat shaming’ their children have a detrimental effect on that individual, contributing to other physical and mental health illnesses such as anorexia.
Instead of naming and shaming children, he proposes that schools provide parents with advice linked to encouraging more sleep, physical exercise and eating nutritious meals. He also says Public Health England needs to do more to explore the issue of underweight children as evidence suggests people are more likely to die when clinically underweight than overweight.
To read the full Britain Imbalanced report, click here.