Tackling obesity needs sophisticated approach
Thursday 5 June 2008
No single policy or person can deal with the obesity crisis, Chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Dame Deirdre Hutton told delegates in the final day's plenary Tackling obesity. 'Advancing today's public health agenda requires a coherence of effort and partnership,' she said. 'We need a sophisticated approach where we intervene in many ways at different levels.'
At stake is not just the cost to the economy, but the issue of 'individual misery - what it does to your life,' she said. There are cultural problems deeply embedded in the way we live, and the role of the government is not only to educate and inform, but also to govern in those instances where individuals can not govern themselves. This includes things over which they have no control such as the food supply chain.
Any choice that requires counter-intuitive behaviour today for the benefit of tomorrow will always be difficult, she said, and it is important to work with industry to ensure it made those choices easier for people. The FSA's work on reducing salt levels in food demonstrated that this can be done, she stressed, can be achieved by adopting a 'push and pull' approach.
The FSA's next challenge is to work towards reducing the nation's intake of saturated fat, she told the conference. It is very early days, but the agency will be setting targets and working closely with the industry. 'It's all about partnership and working together, and we are very keen to work with all of those who can help us achieve change in this area.'
Watch Dame Deirdre Hutton's speech as part of the plenary session: Tackling Obesity