Mixed messages do not help obesity action

UK prime minister Boris Johnson this week launched the latest effort to combat a problem which continues to put pressure on health services around the globe.

With evidence that obesity is a factor in how well and quickly someone can recover from Covid-19, there is added impetus and public conscious of the need to act.

Indeed, more people will die from illnesses related to obesity than will from the virus. One has sparked a worldwide response because its severity is quick and obvious, the other has been left to slowly take hold.

Not only are we bombarded with conflicting messages about what constitutes a healthy diet and lifestyle, we are conflicted by a drive to help rescue the battered economy by eating out – something being encouraged by the very people asking us to take action against obesity.

Guernsey will by association benefit from some of the actions taken in the UK – the ban on junk food advertising before the watershed an example – but one that may not be witnessed until 2022, another sign of a lack of urgency and conflict with the different industries that would be impacted.

There is a real need to instil changes in people’s lifestyles that are long lasting – eating and living healthily should be habit – the failure of so many who try dieting shows that it is much more complex than one quick solution.

In many ways it should be simple – stay active, eat nutritious food – and government’s role is to ensure that both are readily available, affordable, desirable and understood.

We are long beyond the time that we should be spending huge amounts on treating the consequences of obesity – the action being taken now, both here and elsewhere, still feels too tentative in the face of what the consequences are.

It took far too long to really tackle smoking as corporate interests took precedence over public health.

We should not end up repeating the same mistakes.