Obesity action in England Professor Gina Radford, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England

Excess weight and tooth decayNational Child Measurement Programme 2015/16

One in five children aged 4 to 5 years is overweight or obese

One in three children aged 10 to 11 years is overweight or obese

31% of 5 year olds and 46 % of 8 year olds had tooth decay in 2013.

Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action

Soft drinks industry levy

Sugar reduction & wider reformulation programme Action in primary

schools and early year settings

Updating the Nutrient Profile Model

Technology and innovation

Supporting families

Clearer food labelling

Healthier options in the public sector

Soft drinks industry levy

• New levy that applies to the producers and importers of soft drinks containing added sugar

• Key aim of the levy is to encourage producers to reformulate their products to reduce the sugar content

• Two rates based on total sugar content:

• 18p per litre for the lower sugar products (5g/100ml and above)

• 24p per litre for the higher sugar products (8g/100ml and above)

• Open and transparent monitoring of progress

Sugar reduction: Achieving the 20%

• Based on the UK’s successful salt reduction programme

• Applies to all sectors of the food industry i.e. retailers, manufactures and eating out of home

• Three mechanisms for businesses to take action

• Transparent monitoring and reporting on progress

• Programme will help to reduce health inequalities

• Lessons from salt reduction programme: other countries getting on board will help achieve success

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sugar-reduction-achieving-the-20

Next steps

• Sugar reduction progress report will be published in March 2018

• Guidelines drinks excluded from soft drinks industry levy (pure fruit and vegetable juices and milk-based drinks)

• Wider reformulation programme will include:

- Calorie reduction programme

- Salt reduction

- Saturated fat

Global action for a global epidemic

We need others to join the journey!