Leading doctors in Britain yesterday demanded tough government action to curb the nation’s addiction to unhealthy food, and so help halt spiralling rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Senior medical figures want to stop fast-food outlets opening near schools, restrict the advertising of products high in fat, salt or sugar, and limit sponsorship of sports events by fast-food producers.
They also want “fat taxes” to be imposed on foods that cause the most dietary harm and introduce cigarette-style warnings for schoolchildren about the dangers of a bad diet.
Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, said the consumption of unhealthy food should be seen to be just as damaging as smoking or binge drinking.
“Thirty years ago, it would have been inconceivable to have imagined a ban on smoking in the workplace or in pubs, and yet that is what we have now. Are we willing to be just as courageous in respect of obesity? I would suggest that we should be,” the leader of the UK’s children’s doctors said.
Stephenson’s comments will reignite the debate over the role of regulation in tackling public health problems.
British Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said last week that “no government campaign or program can force people to make healthy choices,” adding: “We want to free business from the burden of regulation, but we don’t want, in doing that, to sacrifice public health outcomes.”
Lansley has alarmed health campaigners by saying manufacturers of potato chips and confectionery could play a central role in the Change4Life campaign, the centerpiece of government efforts to boost healthy eating and fitness. He has also criticized celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s high-profile attempt to improve the quality of school lunches as an example of how “lecturing” people was not the best way to change their behavior.
Stephenson suggested potential restrictions could include banning TV advertisements for foods high in fat, salt or sugar before the 9pm watershed and limiting them on billboards or in cinemas.
“If we were really bold, we might even begin to think of high-calorie fast food in the same way as cigarettes — by setting stringent limits on advertising, product placement and sponsorship of sports events,” he said.
Such a move could affect firms such as McDonald’s, which currently sponsors the youth coaching scheme run by the Football Association.
Fast-food chains should also stop offering “inducements” such as toys, cuddly animals and mobile phone credit to lure young customers, Stephenson said.
Dinesh Bhugra, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “Some types of processed foods are harmful to the physical, and consequently mental, health of individuals. There ought to be serious consideration given to banning advertising of certain foods and certain processed foods and to levying tax on fatty, unhealthy foods, which would be ring-fenced for the NHS [the UK’s state-funded health service], which deals with the consequences of fatty foods.”
School pupils need to be told more about the effects of bad diet, Bhugra said: “If children are taught about the impact that food has on their growth, and that some things can harm, at least information is available upfront.”
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