Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall clashes with Health Secretary over obesity failure

10 March 2024 , 13:47

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Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall clashes with Health Secretary over obesity failure

A TV chef has launched an astonishing attack on the Tory Health Secretary over the Government's catastrophic failure to address the UK's obesity crisis.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said ministers have done "next to nothing" to help "ailing, struggling citizens" in a confrontation with frontbencher Victoria Atkins. He said advice from campaigners and experts had been ignored, at huge cost to public health and the NHS.

Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall told Ms Atkins: "It's the single biggest factor in the ailing health of the nation. Treating obesity is the single biggest cost to the NHS.

"We've got approaching 3 million people who are long term sick. The estimated cost to the economy of obesity is £100 billion a year."

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said the public are paying the price of failure

The food expert said he'd worked with a number of groups who had put forward a "raft" of policies that could help. He told Ms Atkins: "Now, I've worked with many amazing agencies, with the Food Foundation, with the Obesity Health Alliance, with Jamie Oliver and his team, with (former food tsar) Henry Dimbleby. They have all put a raft of policies of levers that you could be pulling to address the obesity crisis. You're not pulling any of them.

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"You've done next to nothing to help this ailing, struggling six citizens of the UK find healthier food."

A floundering Ms Atkins responded: "I've been in post for three months now. And what I want to do is I will be over the coming weeks setting out a prevention strategy, which of course will include obesity. But we make the mistake, I think, of siloing obesity by itself.

"We know that there are it can have many, many other conditions, including causing type two diabetes. And so over the coming weeks, you will see the government set out our plans."

In September The Mirror reported that NHS England’s child obesity lead is demanding “wider societal action” amid concerns about the health of the nation's youngsters. The Government has refused to restrict the availability of junk food in high streets and supermarkets.

Extreme child cases requiring hospitalisation are becoming more common. Professor Simon Kenny, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Children, said: “Clear evidence about the scale of the problems leads me to the conclusion that wider societal action on obesity is needed – now.”

Experts blame the availability of cheap junk food and physical activity levels of children plummeting as urban green spaces and school playing fields were built over. The Government now spends an estimated annual £18billion – 8% of all taxpayer healthcare expenditure – on conditions related to high body mass index.

Dave Burke