Childhood obesity strategy - why do we need it?

Last week the UK government published a national childhood obesity strategy. Read the full text to see how it describes the problem and how it intends to support health eating.

Other UK government plans can be found online via the UK gov website.

Is childhood obesity a problem in the Uk?
Get data from The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) which measures the height and weight of children in reception class (aged 4 to 5 years) and year 6 (aged 10 to 11 years) to assess overweight and obesity levels in children within primary schools.The website includes a definition of obesity and how it is measured.
the latest report found that

" 21.9%of the children measured were either overweight or obese.

This was lower than in 2013/14 (22.5%) and 2006/07 (22.9%)" (p.6)

It is also possible to look at local authority profiles for overweight and underweight children using NCMP data . 

There is also an interesting mapping of numbers of fast food outlets and levels of obesity by region.

Search for more NHS reports and  plans using NHS Evidence. These include reviews of treatment, public health plans and articles. Many are full text.

  

Sugar levy

One of the proposals is the 'sugar tax' see our earlier posting of links from March 2016

IEA also issued an update this week to its briefing

Professional bodies research on obesity plan

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health held a summit in 2015 which covered concerns and a plan for action . Download the full results from their website alongside other resources on this topic.
BMA was disappointed by the 2016 plan
BDA also disappointed.
Uk Health Forum response.
Sustain
Obesity Alliance says that it lets down future generations.