Analysis: Health - Ambitious plans for fighting obesity

Sue Learner looks at whether the planned changes go far enough to make a real difference to the future health of England's children and young people.

The government has vowed to make England the first nation to reverse the rising tide of obesity, including among children. Unveiled last week, Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A cross government strategy for England is the latest weapon in the fight against flab.

Nearly a quarter of men and women in England are obese, as are almost one-fifth of children aged two to five.

The strategy allocates £372m to measures aimed at curbing the trend and David Haslam, clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, says the ideas are interesting, hard-hitting and calls the strategy itself "brave talk".

But there is concern that other government departments have caved in to pressure from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on TV advertising of junk food.

The right choices

The strategy promises to encourage children to do more physical activity, make cookery a compulsory part of the national curriculum and advise parents on what to put in children's lunchboxes.

Local authorities will be urged to use their powers to prevent fast food outlets from opening near schools and parks. There will also be tailored support to help those who are already overweight to change their lifestyle with cash or vouchers offered as an incentive.

But one of the big disappointments is the government's failure to introduce a ban on junk food TV advertising before 9pm, thereby protecting more than £200m a year in TV advertising revenue.

Children's charities are critical of this omission. A spokeswoman for the National Children's Bureau (NCB) says: "While the obesity strategy gives considerably more coherence to the focus on food, nutrition and exercise, it falls short of a mandated 9pm watershed, and mandatory restrictions on junk food and drink advertising aimed at children and young people."

The NCB says the government needs to "be bold and brave in putting children and young people's health before advertising revenue".

Betty McBride, director of policy and communications for the British Heart Foundation, is disappointed with the government for backing down from taking on business in the fight against obesity.

"How can our children expect to make informed food choices if they are constantly being bombarded by junk food advertisements that urge them to put their health and hearts at risk?" she asks.

However, McBride feels the government has done well committing to a single food-labelling system, but could have gone further. "The government has still left the onus on industry to enforce any recommended food labelling system."

The foundation wants ministers to introduce the traffic light labelling system developed by the Food Standards Agency where fat, sugar and salt is labelled as high (red), medium (amber) or low (green).

Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the children's commissioner for England, calls the strategy a "positive recognition of the deeply serious health problems facing our children and young people".

He welcomes proposals for a single food labelling system that everyone can understand, but would like to see a firm commitment to a 9pm watershed on junk food TV adverts to further limit young people's exposure to unhealthy foods.

Haslam hopes the fact it is a cross-government strategy will give it more power. However he warns: "You can already see the cracks starting to appear with the DCMS winning the battle over a watershed of advertising for children. But let's not be cynical. It is a very good step in the right direction."

Qualified support

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb has criticised some of the strategy as unrealistic, including plans to ensure children's packed lunches are as healthy as those provided by school dinners. "Is this the introduction of the lunchbox police?" he asks.

Children's Food Campaign co-ordinator Richard Watts welcomes the government's recognition of the need for all children to learn to cook in school and says it will make a real difference to children's health. However, he adds: "If it is true that the DCMS has won a battle within Whitehall to keep tougher rules on junk food marketing out of the obesity strategy, it leaves a very large hole indeed.

"Until governments accept the need to put the physical health of children ahead of the economic health of industry we will not tackle the obesity crisis."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson says the problem of obesity is simple - we eat too much and we do too little exercise. But he acknowledges the solution is more complex. "From the nature of the food that we eat, to the built environment, through to the way our children lead their lives - it is harder to avoid obesity in the modern environment."

The government's chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson says: "Physical activity, healthy eating, balanced marketing and promotion of food to children and clear and consistent food labelling are all key components in beating the obesity timebomb."

THE STRATEGY

- £75m to be spent on encouraging parents and children to eat healthily and take more exercise through initiatives such as fruit-tasting sessions and "walking buses"

- Cookery lessons to be compulsory in schools by 2011

- Identify families at risk of obesity early

- Reduce the number of obese children to 2000 levels by 2020

- www.cypnow.co.uk/doc.