To focus health campaigns on fried food and fizzy drinks is misleading, scientists insist
IT IS misleading to focus public health campaigns on tackling obesity by targeting fried food and fizzy drinks, according to scientists.
As many seek to battle the festive bulge in January, a new study has challenged previous findings that any single aspect of diet or lifestyle can be addressed to reduce the risk of obesity in adults.
Researchers at the University of Exeter found instead many fattening aspects of the environment, lifestyle and behaviour interact with a person’s genes to influence his or her waistline – and the strongest influence is poverty.
In the UK, obesity affects around one in every four adults and one in every five children aged 10 to 11, according to the NHS. Being obese increases risk of developing type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, some cancers and stroke.
The findings contradict some studies, which have concluded concentrating obesity policy on specific aspects such as the consumption of fizzy drinks or fried food could make a meaningful difference to help decrease waistlines, especially in those at high genetic risk of obesity.
The researchers said their study concluded it was premature to suggest specific aspects of behaviour or the environment can be targeted to reduce obesity levels effectively in people at high risk due to their genes.
Dr Jessica Tyrrell, who led the research, said: “There is no ‘silver bullet’ to reducing obesity risk. It is misleading to suggest public health measures should be targeted specifically at fried food reduction, fizzy drink consumption or TV watching in those genetically predisposed to obesity, as some previous studies in leading medical journals have suggested.”
Meanwhile, the Coca-Cola Christmas truck tour should be banned, public health experts say.
The red truck – which made 44 stops across the UK as part of a tour over Christmas – promotes the consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks, particularly to children, they argued.
Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Robin Ireland, of Food Active, a campaign based in north west England to tackle rising obesity levels, and John Ashton, a public health consultant in Liverpool, said Coca-Cola was intent on shaping public opinion through its marketing techniques.