Pizzas and pies ‘must shrink’ to tackle obesity crisis

THE fight to tackle obesity will target the size of pizzas and pies in restaurants and pubs in official new guidelines.

Targets from Public Health England include reducing the calories of pies to 692 and pizzas to 928.

The guidelines, which will also apply to ready meals and sandwiches, are part of a range of measures to reduce childhood obesity and promote healthy eating after it was revealed a third of pupils in England leave primary school overweight or obese.

Some children were found to be eating 500 calories per day above government recommendations of 1,650 calories for a boy of seven and 1,500 calories for a girl.

They come as official figures showed record numbers of children are severely obese by the time they leave primary school. Health experts described the rise as a ‘catastrophe’.

The proportion of ten and 11-year- olds who are overweight or obese has grown to 34.3 per cent – 197,888 children – compared with 31.6 per cent in 2016/17.

Latest data from the National Child Measurement Programme shows 4.2 per cent of Year 6 pupils in England were defined as severely obese, up from 3.6 in 2016/17.

Last December, PHE issued guidance to cut meals to just 1,600 calories a day and 200 calories for snacks.

Current recommendations are 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men. Adults were told to limit themselves to 400 calories for breakfast, 600 for lunch and 600 for dinner.