UK Obesity Predictions - The Lancet 27 Aug 2011

The popular press are reporting on a series of papers in The Lancet which examine the issues surrounding the current worldwide obesity ‘pandemic’.  The press have mainly focussed on paper which analyses obesity trends in the US and the UK.  This indicates that past trends predict that by 2030 the prevalence of obesity in the UK would rise from 26% to 41-48% in men, and from 26% to 35-43% in women. This would equate to 11 million more obese adults by 2030, 3.3 million of whom would be older than 60.

Terry Jones, Director of Communications, for The Food and Drink Federation has responded in a press release to the Lancet Obesity Series by saying:  “The Lancet fails to recognise the lengths to which the UK food and drink industry has gone to help improve the health of the nation, particularly in relation to rising obesity levels."  He continues by reporting that the food industry "has been ahead of the game for a long time in reducing salt, energy and fat in it's products." He notes that the food industry is aware of the "significant threat that obesity poses to society" and states that "though the Responsibility Deal initiative is still in its infancy, we firmly believe that as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development made clear last year 'co-operation between government and industry is the single most critical link in a multi stakeholder approach."