The government’s new obesity strategy is very welcome and long overdue (Boris Johnson to unveil £10m ad campaign to cut obesity in England, 25 July). While there is no magic bullet to fix the obesity crisis, measures such as better labelling, restrictions on the promotion and advertising of less healthy foods, and weight loss programmes could begin to make a real difference.
I chaired a House of Lords select committee that reported earlier this month on the links between poverty, food, health and the environment, and some of our key recommendations are now due to be implemented by this strategy. The problems of obesity, bad diet and consequent ill health are most acute for the poorest people in Britain and action is urgently needed to help to save the most disadvantaged children from a life of ill health followed by an early death.
Prof John Krebs
House of Lords
• It’s brave of the prime minister to condemn the health effects of the promotion of junk food. When some anarchist environmentalists issued a leaflet on this topic a quarter of a century ago, two of their number – the heroic Helen Steel and Dave Morris – had to spend three years in the high court defending themselves against writs from McDonald’s.
Mind you, they did get some pro bono behind-the-scenes legal advice from a young lawyer called Keir Starmer – so Boris Johnson knows who to turn to for help.
Albert Beale
King’s Cross, London
• It has been known for many years that obesity is a major predictor of the development of cardiovascular disease, and for somewhat fewer that it is a major factor in the development of malignant disease. These two sets of disease are responsible for the vast majority of premature deaths in the UK. However, commendable though the government’s new-found enthusiasm for curbing this problem – which has such a high correlation with poverty – is, its timing in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic is surely designed to deflect attention from the incoherent response of this government to this public health emergency. Blame the people!
Charles Gillbe
Former consultant, Royal Brompton hospital, London
• Boris Johnson’s obesity initiative calls for pubs to show the number of calories that each meal and drink contains. This is a sensible idea and, to its credit, at least one major pub chain already does this. It is of course Wetherspoon’s, headed up by the prime minister’s political ally, Tim Martin. I’m not sure it makes those who frequent Mr Martin’s pubs any healthier, but at least they are well-informed.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London
• Obesity is a very real issue in our society. But equally, eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, orthorexia and bulimia are destructive in many lives. One common characteristic of anorexia nervosa is an obsession with calorie-counting. It is unhelpful to those recovering from, or at risk of developing, the disease to present them with exact calorific information every time they eat out.
Roisin Mitchell
Southampton
• The government is set to tackle obesity, which experts warn is “the single most important modifiable risk factor in fighting Covid-19”, says your report. Did the experts forget poverty, or did the government choose to ignore what is staring it in the face?
Dr Charles Warlow
Edinburgh
• A photo of 32 members of my extended Liverpool working-class family in early 1946 shows no sign of obesity in any of them. They had emerged from seven years of rationing. If you really want to reduce obesity, bring back real rationing.
Dr Tony Morgan
Cambridge
• Watching Channel 4 on Monday evening: an NHS health campaign advert followed by one for Deliveroo. Priceless.
Kathleen O’Neill
Hayling Island, Hampshire
• I’m old enough to remember another Tory telling us to “get on our bikes”, but that was for a different reason. Perhaps this current strategy is dual-purpose – clever bloke, that Dominic Cummings.
Dr Mark Wilcox
New Mill, West Yorkshire
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