Health: Government issues guidance on combating obesity

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence calls on primary care trusts, local authorities and the voluntary sector to work together to combat obesity in young people. It says children?s services directors, councils and schools should create more facilities for physical activities, such as walking and cycling routes. It also says schools should ensure their whole environment is geared towards healthy outcomes and that young people should be encouraged to eat at home with adults and no television.

The guidelines call for primary care trusts to provide obese young people with advice on changing their lifestyle as well as their diet, and says such young people should receive long-term follow-up care from a trained professional and be incentivised to lose weight through a reward scheme. Drugs should only be prescribed if a young person?s health is at serious risk and surgery should only be considered in exceptional circumstances and if the young person is physically mature.