Health and Social Care Committee report on obesity

British Nutrition Foundation response to Health and Social Care Committee report on the obesity moonshot

The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee today published The obesity moonshot: making obesity a political priority, the final report of its Food and Weight Management inquiry. The report examines the Government’s commitment, set out in the 10 Year Health Plan, to launch a “moonshot” to end the obesity epidemic.

The Committee calls on the Government to come to Parliament within three months to set out:

•       a clear definition of what “ending the obesity epidemic” means;

•       an overall target, with milestones;

•       a funded, cross-government action plan covering both prevention and treatment.

It also recommends that the Prime Minister chair a new Cabinet committee to drive delivery.

British Nutrition Foundation response

Elaine Hindal, Chief Executive of the British Nutrition Foundation, said:

“We welcome the Committee’s report and strongly agree that an ambition to end the obesity epidemic must be matched by a clear plan, measurable targets and leadership from the very top of Government. Obesity and diet-related disease carry a high cost for individuals, the NHS and wider society, and no single department can tackle them alone.

Nearly a quarter of children are already living with obesity by the time they leave primary school, and the gap between our most and least deprived communities continues to widen. We need a long-term, cross-party commitment that defines what success looks like, how we will get there and how progress will be measured.”

We agree with the Committee that action to tackle obesity cannot succeed without a clear definition of success, and we have previously called for long- and medium-term targets for obesity reduction. To be credible and drive change, we believe targets should be evidence-based and data-led, making the best use of the UK’s existing data, and should:

•       Be time-bound, with interim milestones. There should be a near-term goal to halt the rise in obesity and a longer-term goal to achieve a sustained reduction. There should be clear and timely reporting to measure progress.

•       Cover both children and adults, using established national datasets such as the National Child Measurement Programme and the Health Survey for England.

•       Address inequalities, including a specific target to narrow the gap in obesity between the most and least deprived areas.

•       Be backed by robust, timely and coordinated action. Previous ambitions, including the 2018 goal to halve childhood obesity by 2030, have been held back by delays to key policies and changes in their scope.

Joining up policy action

The Government’s plan should build on and align with existing policy on food and health, including:

•       the 10-Year Health Plan;

•       the Healthy Food Standard and mandatory healthy sales reporting;

•       advertising and promotion restrictions under the updated Nutrient Profiling Model;

•       Food Nation 2040, the next phase of the national food strategy.

Each of these should contribute to the same shared goals, with clear lines of accountability.

School food standards, early years nutrition and food education should sit within the same framework, so that action for children is consistent across health, education and food policy.

Prevention and treatment are both essential

We share the Committee’s view that prevention and treatment of obesity are both needed and should not be conflated.

Prevention: Action to change our food environment, making healthier choices more attractive, affordable and accessible, is vital to support a shift towards healthier dietary patterns. Our recent report on evidence-based interventions for the UK food environment set out practical actions for retailers, manufacturers and the out-of-home sector to make healthier choices easier. Accurate, timely data on the food supply, across both retail and out of home, will be key to measuring progress, including healthy sales reporting under the Healthy Food Standard and monitoring of reformulation.

Treatment: Weight loss medications are an important tool within a wider weight management toolbox, but weight regain is common when treatment stops. Preventing this may depend on developing and supporting healthier habits while people are taking the medications and beyond. When appetite and calorie intake are reduced, the nutritional quality of what people eat becomes even more important. Diets need to be nutrient dense, providing the fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals needed for good health. As use of these medications grows, understanding how they affect the nutrient density of people’s diets, and of the food supply, will be important to ensure that lower calorie intakes still meet nutritional needs.

We support the Committee’s call for lifelong support for people living with obesity. For those using weight loss medications, nutrition advice, alongside other wrap-around care including physical activity and psychological support, should be part of every prescription, and should continue when treatment stops, to help people maintain a healthy weight and good health in the long term.

Starting early: food education

A life-course approach must begin with supporting food literacy in children. Our recent whitepaper, Food education: the missing ingredient in a healthier, more sustainable future, calls for food education to be explicitly built into prevention policy and given the same status as digital and financial literacy. Giving young people the knowledge, skills and confidence to eat well is an essential part of any long-term plan.

Working together

Ending the obesity epidemic will require sustained collaboration between Government, the NHS, local authorities, the food industry, healthcare professionals and the scientific community. Alongside policy, research and innovation will be needed to understand which interventions work best in practice and to support the transformation of the food system. That ranges from reformulation and product development to new technologies that can improve the nutritional quality of the food supply.

As more people use weight loss medications and eat less food overall, the question is no longer only how much people eat, but whether what they eat meets their nutritional needs, supporting health and wellbeing. The British Nutrition Foundation is committed to bringing together the evidence and expertise needed to ensure healthy weight goes hand in hand with good nutrition at every stage of life. We will continue to assess the scientific evidence on diet and health to underpin effective policy, and to work with stakeholders across the food system and healthcare to support its delivery.