Obesity - " Call to Action "


The National Obesity Forum, together with the Child Growth Foundation - the UK charity focussed on the prevention of chidhood obesity - has called for a second House of Commons Inquiry into Obesity following the publication of " Call to Action ", the Department of Health's strategy to accomplish a downward trend in obesity by 2020.  It is seven years since the Select Committee published its seminal report on obesity - and comparatively little has been achieved to stem the epidemic since.

The NOF calls the government's strategy " hopeless ".  Chairman Professor David Haslam told GP, the general practice weekly, that " Call to Action wouldn't make a single person thinner.  It is meaningless to primary care and I almost completely object to it ".  He also had some choice words for the " Dietary Recommendations for Energy " document released simultaneously with " Call to Action ".  Commenting on the new recommendations - which increased the calorie count -he castigated the increase for being " really unhelpful ". " It gives out entirely the wrong message." he said. " People are going to think that they can eat that little bit more. If anything, that will add to the obesity problem!"

" Call to Action " whose chief message is that the UK should strive for a collective daily reduction of 5 billion calories as a " new national ambition ", has received flak from all quarters except, of course, the food and drink industry. Jamie Oliver's view that the document was " worthless, regurgitated, patronsing rubbish " was the opinion most quoted.