The National Obesity Strategy was launched on 27 July to tackle one of the largest long-term health challenges in the UK: nearly two-thirds of adults are above a healthy weight as are one in three children leaving primary school.
The Government’s main measures area:
- A campaign to get overweight people to reduce their weight using apps;
- Improve the NHS weight management service;
- Consult on the current traffic light labelling for healthy food choices;
- Legislate for calorie labels for larger food retailers;
- Consult on calorie labelling for alcohol;
- Legislate to end the promotion of food with high fats, sugars and salts;
- Limit the advertising of foods with high fats, sugars and salts.
This is a great step in the right direction but perhaps underplays – even for the Lincoln Food Partnership – the importance of healthy exercise.
As short term proposals these inevitably have an emphasis symptoms rather than causes – perhaps we should turn our attention to education about food for longer term solutions that tackle the causes of obesity.
More food news from our blog
The Future of Food in the Lincolnshire Fens
In this workshop, we will explore collectively the current and foreseeable challenges to producing, processing, and transporting food in the Fens. We will build on the experience of local farmers, processors, retailers, IDBs, local authorities, the Environment Agency, and others who live and work in the Fens. Through discussions, punctuated by snippets of information on…
Baking with Diverse Grain
Baking using flour from diverse population wheat, from Turner’s of Bytham and South Ormsby Estate in Lincolnshire Photos from Lincolnshire Breadbasket event at Heckington Windmill on 3rd May, and sent by the bakers in the following weeks
The Reality of Food Poverty in Lincoln
A new report shows a dramatic rise in the number of Lincoln residents needing emergency food parcels from the city’s food banks. The greatest increase is among households with children: children now account for 35% of all people fed by food banks in Lincoln. The two largest food bank networks in Lincoln provided almost 47,000…
Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership 