Two-thirds of the UK population are either overweight or obese—a crisis that costs billions each year in health care and lost productivity. Yet, in a 2021 review of nearly 700 obesity-related policies in England, researchers at the University of Cambridge found no evidence they had successfully reduced obesity. A House of Lords committee last month declared there had been an "utter failure to tackle this crisis".
It suggested an ambitious strategy to "fix our broken food system". The Lords committee wants the UK government to adopt a series of recommendations, including requiring businesses to report the percentage of healthy foods they offer, imposing taxes on salt and sugar, banning the advertising of unhealthy foods, and improving maternal and infant nutrition. But my work suggests that, despite its ambition, the committee's plan underestimates the complexity of the problem.
An example of this inherent complexity is the recommendation to expand sugar taxation beyond drinks to other food items. The soft drinks industry levy , introduced in the UK in 2018, prompted manufacturers to reduce sugar content . A year after introduction, the sugar from soft drinks were 3g a day less in children and 5g in adults (12 and 20 calories).
To a small extent, sugar taxation has reduced the incidence of obesity in girls aged ten and 11 years , but more in areas of deprivation. Taxing sugary drinks had no effect in younger girls, or boys of any age. This research concluded that "additional.
