NHS chiefs claims exit from the EU could help Britain beat its obesity epidemic by introducing tougher food rules
The Chief executive of NHS England urged MPs to take advantage of Brexit to introduce tougher restrictions on unhealthy food and drink
BREXIT could help beat the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic, the head of the NHS claims.
Simon Stevens said taking back control of our laws means we can bring in tougher food and drink labelling rules to fight flabby guts.
One in three kids leave school too fat.
Being too heavy increases the chances of type 2 diabetes, heart, liver disease and several common cancers.
The NHS England chief executive called for the Government to take “assertive” action in post-Brexit Britain.
He said ministers could no longer claim their “hands were tied”.
He said they would be free to introduce anti-obesity rules to protect kids - like making manufacturers put calorie labels on all food and drink packaging.
Speaking at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference in London yesterday, he said more action would be needed if the Government was to meet its target of cutting added sugar in children’s diets by 20 per cent by 2020.
He said: “We’re obviously going through a big debate about what the future of this country will look like after we leave the European Union… If we’re going to take back control of our regulations then let’s take back control of the fight on obesity.”
Cutting obesity rates would help reduce the number of cases of diabetes and other diseases like cancer, he said.
Seven in ten millennials are expected to be overweight or obese by the time they are aged 35 to 45, compared to five in ten baby boomers.
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Charities propose making manufacturers state how many spoonfuls of sugar are each packet, cutting kids’ exposure to junk food ads and banning takeways from opening near schools.
Other ideas which could be put forward include making traffic light food labels compulsory instead of voluntary and expanding the sugar tax to include food and milk-based drinks.
Robin Hewing, of Diabetes UK, added: “At the moment traffic light labelling is voluntary.
“We’ve found it really does impact consumer behaviour - we’ve all gone to buy a sandwich for lunch then stopped when we’ve seen how unhealthy it is.
“At the top of the list of things we would like to see changed after Brexit is banning junk food marketing during family viewing times.
“Although it is banned from children’s programming, a lot of children sit and watch programmes like the X Factor with their parents and that’s a big way in which children are exposed to marketing which impacts on what they choose to eat."
Earlier this week it was announced NHS’s £40million flagship diabetes prevention programme had had better-than-expected results, with fat participants losing an average of 3.7kg (8lb 3oz) through diet advice and activities.