What is Boris Johnson's obesity strategy?

Emily Lawford27 July 2020

A third of children in the UK and almost two-thirds of adults are above a healthy weight, according to Government data. Some 28% of the country is classed as obese, the Department of Health said. As well as other health defects, obese people are shown to be more at risk from coronavirus.

On Monday, the Prime Minister will give details on the new anti-obesity plan.

So what are the new measures to put the nation on a diet?

Junk food advertising

Junk food adverts before the 9pm watershed will be banned on television and online under the new plans. This is aimed at protecting children at a time when their lifelong food preferences are being set. There will also be a consultation into whether the planned internet advertising restrictions could extend to a total ban on advertising food high in fat, sugar or salt.

In-store unhealthy food promotion

Shops will no longer be allowed to push “buy one, get one free” promotions on unhealthy foods, as the Government seeks to reduce people’s calorie intake.

Supermarkets will also be banned from placing sweets and junk food in in tempting locations, such as store entrances and beside checkouts. Stores will be encouraged to offer more discounts on fruit and vegetables.

Calorie counting on menus

The Government plans to force restaurants and takeaways with more than 250 employees to add calorie labels to their menus to help people make informed choices about what to order.

The Department of Health there would be a consultation in to decide whether to implement the same type of calorie labelling on alcohol.

NHS interventions

The NHS will expand its weight management services, rolling out more smartphone apps in order to improve lifestyle and overall health.

There will also be improvements to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, while GPs will be encouraged to prescribe exercise and other social activities to help people keep fit. Cycling pilots will be set up in the poorest areas of the country, providing bikes to people for exercise.

Food packet labelling

A third consultation will gather evidence on how the current “traffic light” labelling system on food packets, which highlights fat amount and other content information, is being used by consumers and industry. It will compare the UK’s system to those used by other countries.

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