One of the biggest health charities in the U.K. has accused the country’s leaders of inaction over obesity.
Three years ago, ministers announced a major strategy to tackle the condition, which is linked to significant public health costs.
But momentum has been lost after an “initial flurry of activity”, the British Heart Foundation claimed on Friday.
“Delays and ideological wrangling mean the plan has since languished on the shelf gathering dust,” wrote BHF chief executive, Dr Charmaine Griffiths.
In England, just over a quarter of adults (25.3%) in England were living with obesity between 2020 and 2021, the latest official figures show.
This proportion has been growing for years, growing from 22.7% in the 2015/16 financial year to 24.4% by 2019/20.
The condition is a risk factor for a number of health problems including type two diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some forms of cancer. It also disproportionately affects people living in more deprived areas of England.
Dr Griffiths expressed particular regret over recent delays to a promised restriction on supermarket multibuy deals for products high in fat, sugar and salt. She said lagislation had been paused “on the mistaken grounds that such measures are not helpful to families struggling in the cost-of-living crisis.”
But in reality, she said, “These are an established sales tactic designed to encourage people to buy impulsively, leading to people buying more junk food, rather than offering good, value for money, staple products to people in tough times.”
The government’s recent decision to delay its crackdown on multibuy deals has been criticised heavily by scientific and non-governmental organisations.
Rules on the promotions, which include offers like “buy one get one free”, were due to come into force in October. But they have since been pushed back till at least 2025.
The U.K.’s Obesity Health Alliance, of which the BHF is a member, wrote to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to express “deep concerns” when the delay was announced earlier this summer.
“Multi-buy price promotions do not save people money,” OHA director Katharine Jenner wrote in the letter. “They encourage people to impulsively buy more unhealthy food, rather than make savings from food already on their shopping list.”
Quoting the government’s own impact assessment on these kinds of deals, she noted that they were expected to result in the equivalent of around $3 billion worth of cost benefits over the next 25 years. As well as saving money on social care and healthcare, reducing obesity rates could increase the population’s economic output by lowering early deaths.
British Medical Association Board of Science chair Professor David Strain said in a statement at the time preventing obesity was also important for reducing health inequalities.
The condition disproportionately affects people with lower incomes, “with children living in more deprived areas being twice as likely to be obese,” he said.
“The Government has a responsibility to bring in this price promotion restrictions as planned in October 2023 as it is wholly irresponsible to not intervene to help protect the future health of population as the obesity crisis continues to spiral out of control.”
Two major British grocers, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, have already said they will end these kinds of promotions. But multibuy deals are still commonplace in many supermarkets and grocery stores.
The Department for Health and Social Care had not responded to Forbes.com’s request for comment at the time of publication.
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