Kate Percy
Ngu’s face when she tastes the risotto she’s just learned to make says it all…
Nesta’s blueprint for halving obesity
Research and Innovation think tank, Nesta, have just produced a “Blueprint For Halving Obesity”. It’s a new toolkit giving seven excellent recommendations for reducing obesity in the UK by 50% in five years. I was bitterly disappointed that cookery skills and food education were not included.
Nesta claims that halving obesity is possible and affordable with the implementation of a combination of prevention and treatment – industry intervention alongside wider access to weight-loss drugs.
What about learning to cook?
The report implies that earlier education-focused interventions have failed, were too complicated and costly.
👏 Why? Because teaching people to cook, especially teenagers, is complicated, messy, hard work and takes perseverance. You’ve got to be in it for the long term…
But it’s where real change can happen 🪄. And it’s fun! Yes, it really is! Take a look at what we’re getting our teeth into at my new charity CRuNCH – Time For A Healthier, Happier Tomorrow (www.crunchtime.org.uk)
Nesta’s toolkit, created in collaboration with leading UK academics and HealthLumen, makes it possible to compare a wide-range of evidence-based health policies and how much they would cost to implement.
The knock-on effect…
The knock-on effect would be pretty significant:
- Cases of type-2 diabetes would be reduced by around a fifth (157,000 over 5 years).
- 95,000 fewer cases of hypertension over five years and
- 11,500 fewer cases of bowel cancer.
Nesta’s 7 recommendations for halving obesity in 5 years:
💚 Mandate all large food and drink businesses to publish nutritional and sales information of what they sell
👏 Stop online delivery platforms from advertising with online product placement adverts, like pop-ups, on their webpages or homepages
✅ Demand front of pack labelling, similar to nutri-score, on food and drink retail packaging
🎯 Incentivise large retailers to meet targets for selling healthier food
💊 Extend access to weight-loss drugs to an additional 150,000 people a year
💷 Ban price promotions on unhealthy food by medium and large restaurants, takeaways and similar businesses
🍔 Further restrict junk food advertising on TV, online and public transport
All great, but let’s get cooking at the heart of the agenda too!
Thanks for reading, Kate x
