A LACK of “joined-up” thinking by Government has allowed obesity rates in Britain almost to double in the past decade, according to the Commons Select Committee on Health’s report on obesity.

The MPs’ report, the most comprehensive obesity study to date, criticises a simplistic approach by government that has seen ministers endorse schemes such as sportsmen promoting fatty foods and school books for eating sweets.

The report concludes that strategies to tackle the problems of bad diet, over-eating and lack of exercise have been hampered by a lack of coordination between government departments.

Citing the Department of Transport’s failure to pursue walking and cycling schemes designed to promote healthy lifestyles, and the lack of health education in schools, the commmittee has called for obesity to be addressed “at the highest levels of Government”.

The committee recommended the creation of a Cabinet committee to tackle obesity, while ministers including Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Melanie Johnson, the Public Health Minister, were singled out for criticism for their naive approaches to the issue.

According to the latest figures, obesity levels in Britain have grown fivefold in the past 25 years, with two thirds of the population now classified as overweight or obese. In Europe, only Albania, Greece, Israel, Cyprus and the Czech Republic have worse rates.

Among a further 68 conclusions and recommendations in the report, which took a year to compile and is published today, is the call for campaigns to educate people about the benefits of low-calorie diets.

Describing the current information on the public’s calorie intake as very weak, the committee said that an accurate “food survey” should be established as a matter of urgency.

The Government should also consider creating a council of nutrition and physical activity or expand the role of existing bodies such as the Food Standards Agency to improve co-ordination in tackling obesity, it added.

“Solutions to the problem of obesity need to be multifaceted, recognising the complexity of the issue, must address environmental as well as individual factors, and should be designed to bring about long-term, sustainable change rather than promising overnight results . . . Obesity is an issue which demands truly joined-up policymaking,” the report concludes.

Recent campaigns supported by the Government, such as Cadbury’s Get Active — which invited schoolchildren to eat the equivalent of 5,440 bars of chocolate for free volleyball nets — were “entirely unacceptable”, the report said. Walkers crisps, promoted by Gary Lineker, the former footballer, was singled out for similar criticism for offering free school books with its snacks.

The committee said that they were “very surprised” that there had been no health education campaigns aimed at tackling obesity. They rejected the Government’s claims that the five-a-day fruit and vegetable promotion was addressing obesity issues. They called for a campaign “dedicated exclusively to tackling obesity”, which plainly spelt out the health risks of being overweight and obese and identified “high-risk” foods.

The MPs highlighted the importance of food technology lessons in schools, to give pupils training on how to choose and prepare healthy foods and understand food labelling.

The committee also expressed concern over the “cynical exploitation of pester power” in advertising to children. But they said they would not want to go so far as to call for an outright ban on all advertising of unhealthy foods.

They said they would “very much welcome it if the industry as a whole acted in advance of any possible statutory control and voluntarily withdrew such advertising”.

Describing Ms Jowell’s approach to obesity as “rather naive”, the committee called on her to review the marketing of less healthy foods, particularly the impact of product endorsement by sports stars and other celebrities. They also called for Ofcom, the media regulator, to examine the Advertising Standards Authority’s “disturbing” inefficacy as a watchdog

FIGHTING FAT

Pupils should be weighed yearly, with results sent to their parents

Creation of Cabinet-level committee to tackle public health, with particular focus on obesity

Launch of national health-education campaign to highlight dangers of being overweight or obese

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