Kelly’s Eye

If you’re one of those people who also think alcoholism is a “disease” ie: something you catch rather than a self-inflicted condition, you probably also believe that childhood obesity is an “epidemic”. Lots of those who do subscribe to that theory are up in arms about the Government’s revised strategy on the latter problem.

Overweight children were much rarer a few decades ago, with the unhappy consequence that they were singled out even more by their peers. Today they are more common, as are overweight adults. But “epidemic” is a deliberately misleading description because it suggests that the problem is beyond people’s control. It isn’t. There’s much to be said for encouraging people to eat more homecooked meals, fruit and vegetables and fewer processed foods and fizzy drinks. But that’s never enough for those who wish to make healthy eating a matter of compulsion through regulation, such as a sugar tax, for instance.

The overall intake of sugar has actually declined by about a fifth since the 1970s and sales of sugary drinks fell over the past decade too. That suggests informed consumers are perfectly capable of making up their own minds about what they and their children eat. They don’t need to be force-fed by patronising virtue-signallers.