WIREDGOV

Pub, restaurant and cinema chains are being urged by councils to introduce signs which spell out the calorie content of food and drink in a bid to beat the obesity crisis.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils – who are now responsible for public health – is calling for voluntary calorie count signs to be prominently placed at counters and on menus.

This radical move mirrors a successful scheme which is being brought in across the US. This involves chains of restaurants, cinemas and pizza parlours providing calorie counts on their menus. A similar scheme, which has been running since 2008, has already proved a major success in New York City. The bold initiative has been supported by the restaurant industry in New York.

In addition, the LGA is calling for £1 billion of existing VAT to be handed to councils to fund local preventative schemes, prevent obesity, help millions of overweight and obese children across the country and ease pressure on the NHS.

The call comes as latest research shows the scale of the obesity crisis and its paralysing effects on the nation. The NHS is spending over £1.5 million an hour on diabetes – more than £13 billion a year - and more than 3.5 million children are now classed as overweight or obese.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chair of the LGA's Community Wellbeing Board, said:

"We are calling on cinema, restaurant and pub chains to step up to the plate and show leadership in tackling the obesity crisis, by providing clear and graphic signs at counters and on menus.

"In many cases, people are unaware of how many calories they are consuming. Food and drink outlets should be doing more to provide clear and prominent labelling which spells this out clearly.

"This is all about enabling people to make informed choices about what they eat and drink. Some retailers are already introducing calorie counts and this is a step in the right direction. But the industry needs to go further, faster so people know how many calories their food and drink contains.

"We are also calling for £1 billion of existing VAT to be given to councils to boost and bolster local preventative schemes and prevent obesity. The effect of this would be twofold: it would help millions of overweight and obese children across the country and hugely ease pressure on the NHS."

Notes

1. The Food and Drug Administration in the US announced sweeping rules that will require chain restaurants, movie theaters and pizza parlors across the country to post calorie counts on their menus.
   www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us/fda-to-announce-sweeping-calorie-rules-for-restaurants.html?_r=0
   http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/25/fda-calorie-counts.html
2. New York's calorie counting (The Economist)
3. New WHO guidelines issued in March 2015 strongly suggest that adults and children should reduce their intake of free sugars by roughly half – to less than 10 per cent of their daily calories. However, to accrue the most health benefits, this figure should actually be as low as 5 per cent. That's the equivalent of just 25g, or six teaspoons, a day. 
4. 14.9 per cent of five-year-olds who were overweight at primary school were four times more likely to become obese nearly a decade later than five-year-olds of a healthy weight.
5. Researchers writing in the British Journal of General Practice, warned obesity had become the new normal in society and parents rarely spotted it in their children. In a study of almost 3,000 families in the UK, only four parents thought their child was very overweight. Medical assessments put the figure at 369. Around one in five children in Year 6 is obese and a further 14 per cent are overweight, the National Child Measurement Programme shows.
6. The NHS is spending over £1.5 million an hour on diabetes
7. The World Health Organization (WHO) regards childhood obesity as one of the most serious global public health challenges for the 21st century. Obese children and adolescents are at an increased risk of developing various health problems, and are also more likely to become obese adults
   www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/child_obesity
8. People who are overweight have a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.
   www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-obesity-and-improving-diet
9. Soft and fizzy drinks and children's health Research from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey shows that:
   • soft drinks were the largest contributor to sugar intake for children aged four to 18 years
   • children aged 4–10 get 16 per cent of their sugar intake from soft and fizzy drinks
   • children and teenagers aged 11–18 get 29 per cent of their sugar intake from soft and fizzy drinks.