A recent investigation published in the BMJ revealed widespread influence of food and drink brands in schools and nurseries through breakfast clubs, nutrition guidance and healthy eating campaigns (Wilkinson, 2024). The report demonstrates, as practitioners in public health know well, that there is a clear need to tackle the problem of the promotion of unhealthy food to children and young people.
On 3 December the government announced new advertising restrictions ensuring that children will no longer be exposed to TV adverts for junk food products. It said that, from October 2025, adverts will only be allowed after the 9 pm watershed. The restrictions also include a ban on paid online junk food adverts, it says ‘with the aim of reducing children's excessive exposure to many foods high in fat, sugar or salt and helping to address rising rates of obesity-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease’. The government has also produced new guidance explaining which food and drink categories will be covered by the regulations (Department of Health and Social Care, 2024).
In November, the Local Government Association (LGA) suggested that the soft drinks industry levy should be devolved to councils and targeted at the areas most in need, to help close the gap in child health inequalities and fight obesity. This followed National Child Measurement Programme figures for England showing obesity in reception-aged children had increased from 9.2% in 2022/23 to 9.6% in 2023/24. The LGA added that although it was acknowledged that the levy was successful in encouraging manufacturers to reduce sugar levels in soft drinks, it would like to see this extended to drinks such as milkshakes and high-sugar coffees.
Another approach involving local authorities making their own decisions aimed at reducing obesity levels was suggested recently by researchers at Lancaster University. They examined the impact of policy, where Gateshead Council in the north east of England prevented existing non-fast-food commercial property from being converted into a hot fast-food takeaway, and found that such planning policies led to fewer overweight and obese children in those areas (Xiang et al, 2024). In sub-group analysis by area level deprivation, they discovered that those quintiles of deprivation within Gateshead with the highest proportion of fast-food outlets had a statistically significant reduction of 4.80% in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in comparison to comparable neighbourhoods in the north east.
In an article on page 186 of this issue, the authors outline the results of a child and young people's weight management service. The programme developed a parent intervention using psychological theory to modify parental feeding practices known to have an impact on children's weight status. The authors conclude that parents who received the intervention reported significant positive changes on three of four sub-scales: Parental Encouragement, Emotional Feeding and Instrumental Feeding. They argue the service evaluation strengthens the idea for psychoeducation on parental feeding styles to be included in family-based children's weight management interventions as a therapeutic component for parents/carers. Their research underlines the work being done by services with the capacity and skills to support children and families with feeding, contributing to vital efforts to curb obesity and its effects on the health and wellbeing of our communities.
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