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Weight Loss
Obesity: Advice on Healthy Eating From Nestle?
Date: 21/07/10
There’s a messy food fight about to break out... and I mean it in every sense of the word.
The main participants? ‘Big business’, doctors and health agencies, the new coalition government, a celebrity chef, and a truck load of disgruntled consumers.
Food Standards Agency to be stripped of its power
Last week Andrew Lansley, the UK Health Secretary, threatened to scrap the Food Standard Agency (FSA).
The FSA was created in 2000 by the Labour government, following a number of high-profile outbreaks and deaths from food borne illnesses, such as BSE, which rocked the beef industry and damaged public confidence in food safety. The agency was set up to transform the way food standards issues are handled in the UK.
Ten years later and the UK is smothered in a massive government deficit and wrapped in a recession that simply does not want to lift its heavy veil. Cutbacks are necessary and the axe has fallen on the FSA...
While the government is now quickly backtracking on it’s plans to totally scrap the FSA, there are plans being put in motion to reassign some of its duties.
Some may argue that this move is long overdue and that the FSA is a dormant agency in a state of institutional denial, especially when it comes to their position on genetically modified (GM) foods.
Earlier this year, two of its senior members resigned, saying that the FSA adopted a "dogmatically entrenched" pro- GM attitude and the agency was exercising a PR campaign on behalf of the GM industry...
Looking further back, the FSA is clearly prone to faux pas... In 2009, the agency commissioned the most comprehensive research study into the nutritional content of organic food compared to ordinary food. Their conclusion: No evidence supports organic food’s nutritional superiority.
However, the study neglected to take into account the health impact of the cocktail of chemicals left on non-organic food through pesticides, and the environmental benefits of growing organic food on wildlife-friendly farms.
Most recently, the agency failed in their campaign to introduce the ‘traffic-light food labelling system’ across Europe, which would have required food companies to label the front of their products with red, amber or green symbols signifying the levels of fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar in each serving.
On the flip-side of the coin there are those who think the move to abolish the FSA is a big mistake. The chief executive of the charity NI Chest Heart & Stroke said that it makes no sense to abolish a major line of defence against unhealthy eating. He added that without the FSA the pressure on food firms to do the right thing will simply disappear... Others are criticising Lansley for caving into pressures from the food industry... or is he getting ready to jump into bed with them?
Wolf in sheep’s clothing
This is where the wheels start coming off the apple cart...
Recently, Lansley publicly asked big food manufacturers to fund the government's advertising campaign to persuade people to switch to a healthier lifestyle – and in return it would not face legislation outlawing excessively fatty, sugary and salty food. All part of a plan to get food manufacturers to work in partnership with the government to fund health education programmes!
Excuse me for sounding silly, but isn’t this like asking the tobacco industry to run anti-smoking campaigns... Turning Cadbury’s and MacDonald’s into the guardians of dietary advice to the nation?
Whoops, but wait. This craziness doesn’t stop there... Not too long ago, Mr Lansley attacked Jamie Oliver – the celebrity chef, saying his campaign to improve school lunches had failed. Lansley argued that it is wrong to lecture people about their eating habits and that it is 'perfectly possible to eat a bag of crisps, a Mars bar or drink a carbonated soft drink' in moderation...
Look I am all for allowing the individual to think for himself... BUT, in the UK, a third of our children are overweight, do not exercise and eat an appalling diet...
Note to Mr. Lansley: Moderation doesn’t come in to the equation when you deal with children... and we certainly cannot rely on Macdonald’s to tell us what is a balanced diet!
Mixed message
Enter a league of senior medical experts, demanding tougher government action to curb the nation's addiction to unhealthy food. All in an effort to help halt spiralling rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Heading the call for "fat taxes" to be imposed on foods causing the most dietary harm and introducing cigarette- style warnings for schoolchildren about the dangers of a bad diet, is Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
He says: “There ought to be serious consideration given to banning advertising of certain foods and certain processed foods and to levying tax on fatty, unhealthy foods... If we were really bold, we might even begin to think of high- calorie fast food in the same way as cigarettes - by setting stringent limits on advertising, product placement and sponsorship of sports events.”
Professor Stephenson praised Lansley for stressing the importance of personal responsibility, as well as government action, in ending the country's dysfunctional relationship with food. Yet, this praise seems at odds with Lansley’s call to abolish the traffic-light labelling on convenience foods.
To recap:
We have Lansley taking responsibility away from the FSA, and telling us no one will lecture us anymore about our eating habits – not even Jamie. Then he turns around and employs junk food manufacturers to fund government advertising campaigns to persuade people to switch to a healthier lifestyle. Yet, whilst asking them to do this, he will, at the same time be banning their advertisements for processed and fatty foods?
If you think you are confused at this point, so am I...
Sounds like a right mess to me and one that needs sorting out sooner rather than later... Mr. Lansley is either a very clever or a very foolish man, but let’s not wait to see the outcome of this debacle. The only message to take home at this point is:
Take personal responsibility for what you eat and don’t take dietary or nutritional advice from your local fast food outlet – till further notice...
Obesity: Related Reading
Obesity: The dangers of a fast-food diet
Obesity reaches crisis point in Britain
Sources:
‘Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to abolish the FSA’ published online 12.07.10, caterersearch.com
‘Food agency move wrong – charity’ published online 12.07.10, news.bbc.co.uk
‘Health advice can't be left to the makers of the Big Mac’ published online 12.07.10, dailymail.co.uk
‘Junk food mountain: The astonishing amount of rubbish one child eats every year’ published online, 12.07.10, dailymail.co.uk
‘UK doctors declare war on junk food’ published online 12.02.10, nzherald.co.nz
Back to topThe main participants? ‘Big business’, doctors and health agencies, the new coalition government, a celebrity chef, and a truck load of disgruntled consumers.
Food Standards Agency to be stripped of its power
Last week Andrew Lansley, the UK Health Secretary, threatened to scrap the Food Standard Agency (FSA).
The FSA was created in 2000 by the Labour government, following a number of high-profile outbreaks and deaths from food borne illnesses, such as BSE, which rocked the beef industry and damaged public confidence in food safety. The agency was set up to transform the way food standards issues are handled in the UK.
Ten years later and the UK is smothered in a massive government deficit and wrapped in a recession that simply does not want to lift its heavy veil. Cutbacks are necessary and the axe has fallen on the FSA...
While the government is now quickly backtracking on it’s plans to totally scrap the FSA, there are plans being put in motion to reassign some of its duties.
Some may argue that this move is long overdue and that the FSA is a dormant agency in a state of institutional denial, especially when it comes to their position on genetically modified (GM) foods.
Earlier this year, two of its senior members resigned, saying that the FSA adopted a "dogmatically entrenched" pro- GM attitude and the agency was exercising a PR campaign on behalf of the GM industry...
Looking further back, the FSA is clearly prone to faux pas... In 2009, the agency commissioned the most comprehensive research study into the nutritional content of organic food compared to ordinary food. Their conclusion: No evidence supports organic food’s nutritional superiority.
However, the study neglected to take into account the health impact of the cocktail of chemicals left on non-organic food through pesticides, and the environmental benefits of growing organic food on wildlife-friendly farms.
Most recently, the agency failed in their campaign to introduce the ‘traffic-light food labelling system’ across Europe, which would have required food companies to label the front of their products with red, amber or green symbols signifying the levels of fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar in each serving.
On the flip-side of the coin there are those who think the move to abolish the FSA is a big mistake. The chief executive of the charity NI Chest Heart & Stroke said that it makes no sense to abolish a major line of defence against unhealthy eating. He added that without the FSA the pressure on food firms to do the right thing will simply disappear... Others are criticising Lansley for caving into pressures from the food industry... or is he getting ready to jump into bed with them?
Wolf in sheep’s clothing
This is where the wheels start coming off the apple cart...
Recently, Lansley publicly asked big food manufacturers to fund the government's advertising campaign to persuade people to switch to a healthier lifestyle – and in return it would not face legislation outlawing excessively fatty, sugary and salty food. All part of a plan to get food manufacturers to work in partnership with the government to fund health education programmes!
Excuse me for sounding silly, but isn’t this like asking the tobacco industry to run anti-smoking campaigns... Turning Cadbury’s and MacDonald’s into the guardians of dietary advice to the nation?
Whoops, but wait. This craziness doesn’t stop there... Not too long ago, Mr Lansley attacked Jamie Oliver – the celebrity chef, saying his campaign to improve school lunches had failed. Lansley argued that it is wrong to lecture people about their eating habits and that it is 'perfectly possible to eat a bag of crisps, a Mars bar or drink a carbonated soft drink' in moderation...
Look I am all for allowing the individual to think for himself... BUT, in the UK, a third of our children are overweight, do not exercise and eat an appalling diet...
Note to Mr. Lansley: Moderation doesn’t come in to the equation when you deal with children... and we certainly cannot rely on Macdonald’s to tell us what is a balanced diet!
Mixed message
Enter a league of senior medical experts, demanding tougher government action to curb the nation's addiction to unhealthy food. All in an effort to help halt spiralling rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Heading the call for "fat taxes" to be imposed on foods causing the most dietary harm and introducing cigarette- style warnings for schoolchildren about the dangers of a bad diet, is Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
He says: “There ought to be serious consideration given to banning advertising of certain foods and certain processed foods and to levying tax on fatty, unhealthy foods... If we were really bold, we might even begin to think of high- calorie fast food in the same way as cigarettes - by setting stringent limits on advertising, product placement and sponsorship of sports events.”
Professor Stephenson praised Lansley for stressing the importance of personal responsibility, as well as government action, in ending the country's dysfunctional relationship with food. Yet, this praise seems at odds with Lansley’s call to abolish the traffic-light labelling on convenience foods.
To recap:
We have Lansley taking responsibility away from the FSA, and telling us no one will lecture us anymore about our eating habits – not even Jamie. Then he turns around and employs junk food manufacturers to fund government advertising campaigns to persuade people to switch to a healthier lifestyle. Yet, whilst asking them to do this, he will, at the same time be banning their advertisements for processed and fatty foods?
If you think you are confused at this point, so am I...
Sounds like a right mess to me and one that needs sorting out sooner rather than later... Mr. Lansley is either a very clever or a very foolish man, but let’s not wait to see the outcome of this debacle. The only message to take home at this point is:
Take personal responsibility for what you eat and don’t take dietary or nutritional advice from your local fast food outlet – till further notice...
Obesity: Related Reading
Obesity: The dangers of a fast-food diet
Obesity reaches crisis point in Britain
Sources:
‘Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to abolish the FSA’ published online 12.07.10, caterersearch.com
‘Food agency move wrong – charity’ published online 12.07.10, news.bbc.co.uk
‘Health advice can't be left to the makers of the Big Mac’ published online 12.07.10, dailymail.co.uk
‘Junk food mountain: The astonishing amount of rubbish one child eats every year’ published online, 12.07.10, dailymail.co.uk
‘UK doctors declare war on junk food’ published online 12.02.10, nzherald.co.nz
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