Monday, February 8, 2016

Obesity: Government strategy to combat Britain's weight crisis 'a mistake', says former obesity tsar

David Cameron’s former obesity tsar has slammed the Government’s forthcoming strategy to tackle Britain’s weight crisis as a “mistake”.

Dr Susan Jebb told The Independent on Sunday that the Department of Health is wrong to focus only on children to address the problem that two-thirds of adults are overweight. She believes improving the attitude of parents to weight loss is the best way to help children who eat too much and do not take enough exercise, given that parents have the biggest influence on their behaviour.

But the Government is mostly focusing on schoolchildren through its “Children’s Obesity Strategy”, which is expected to be published later this month. Ministers are currently debating the final details of the strategy, and there are understood to be some disagreements between departments over what should be included.

It is thought that health ministers are considering ideas to give local authorities powers to deny the opening of calorific fast-food restaurants and creating a watchdog to make sure the food and drink industry meets promises to reduce portion sizes and the amount of sugar in cans of pop. Industry sources suggested the much-vaunted sugar tax,

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