18th August 2016
Today, the Government launches its long awaited childhood obesity plan, urging industry to cut the amount of sugar in food and drinks while investing millions of pounds into school sport.
However, the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of 33 leading national charities, Medical Royal Colleges, and campaign groups say that even after delaying publication for a whole year, the Government has fallen far short of what is needed and is failing to take the necessary measures to tackle childhood obesity.
Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, executive director of the iHV said:
“It is helpful that the childhood obesity plan is finally launched with a range of strategic measures such as cutting sugar from favourite childhood foods and encouraging more exercise in schools. We had hoped that it would be much more far reaching, however these are constructive first steps. The iHV is a member of the Obesity Alliance which is also calling for the removal of junk food advertising before the 9.00 pm watershed and a greater reduction of the quantity of sugar in commercial foods.
As a society we also need to find ways of tackling screen time which starts to build in infancy and is reducing infant-parent interaction, as well as the time spent in active play when infants will learn the most. One simple message we must be clear about is that infants and children only actually need water or milk to drink. Sticking to this rule helps protect them from obesity and also protects their teeth.”
