Government told to try harder on curbing childhood obesity crisis

Health campaigners have urged the government to try harder to curb the 'devastating all-time high' of childhood obesity figures, a year after it launched a landmark plan to tackle the crisis.

Public Health England (PHE) said real progress has been made on reducing sugar levels in food items in the 12 months since the introduction of the childhood obesity plan, but leading officials said a much more robust strategy is needed to ensure targets are met.

The comments come days after the release of figures showing that more than 600 children and young people under 25 were treated for type 2 diabetes in 2015-16, with nearly 80% of them classed as obese.

PHE said it would now be focusing on the reduction of excess calories in a range of products in conjunction with the implementation of the soft drinks industry levy, which will come into force in April 2018.

Try harder

The levy, known as the sugar tax, will create an additional charge for drinks manufacturers whose products exceed around 5% sugar content.

But the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA), a coalition of more than 40 leading health charities, medical colleges and campaign groups, said that despite good progress its assessment of the plan was 'must try harder'.

It said the guidelines should be extended to include saturated fats, along with measures to reduce the impact of junk food marketing, targeted at children.

OHA alliance lead Caroline Cerny said: 'Good progress has been made over the past year, with strong measures to reduce sugar in foods and drink, and we look forward to seeing ambitious targets for industry to make the food we eat less calorific.'

Ads target children

She added: 'However, we can't ignore the fact that the food industry continues to get away with bombarding children with adverts that we know encourage unhealthy food choices.

'The existing regulations are full of loopholes and don't reflect the way children watch TV or online content. Failing to tackle this area is significantly undermining the impact of the childhood obesity plan.'

Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London and chair of campaign group Action On Sugar, said: 'We need a much more robust plan, with enforcement of the sugar and calorie reduction targets. At the same time, the sugar-sweetened soft drinks levy needs to be extended to confectionery, the second-biggest contributor of energy intakes in children.

'We must also have watertight restrictions on marketing unhealthy foods to children, with uniform front of pack labelling.'

Next critical step

Professor MacGregor also criticised prime minister Theresa May for having 'watered down the childhood obesity plan for entirely political reasons' since its inception by her predecessor David Cameron.

PHE said it will now undertake a period of detailed consultations with leading food and drinks businesses to formulate a plan that would best enable them to reach the target of a 20% sugar reduction in key foods by 2020.

PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie said: 'A third of children leave primary school overweight or obese, and an excess of calories – not just excess sugar consumption – is the root cause of this.

'We will work with the food companies and retailers to tackle this as the next critical step in combating our childhood obesity problem.'

Further information

• Stop bombarding children with junk food advertising

• Children with type 2 diabetes top 600, prompting 'time bomb' obesity fears

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