Attention news editors/medical
correspondents - obesity/the WHO global strategy
Food and soft drink manufacturers should switch pricing policies to favour
healthier diets, the International Obesity TaskForce said today. (Sunday)
After the weekend's landmark decision by health ministers in Geneva to endorse
a far-reaching World Health Organization blueprint to combat obesity and
chronic diseases, governments are now expected to make a major push to achieve
existing nutritional standards and for improvements in food products in the
pipeline.
The strategy has already been backed by international food industry groups such
as the Grocery Manufacturers of America and its European counterpart, the CIAA,
and some major multi-national brand owners have already promised to reshape
their product portfolio to transform the supermarket shelves.
Welcoming the the WHO Global Strategy on Diet,
Physical Activity and Health, Prof Philip James, chairman of the International
Obesity TaskForce, said: "This represents a major advance in recognizing
the challenge we face in tackling the epidemic of obesity and the urgent need
for better prevention measures to address the range of diet-related chronic
diseases including diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer.
"The agreement by health ministers to the text is only the beginning. Now
the hard work now begins and governments must take a strong line in pressing
for a transformation in dietary standards and the nutritional quality of food.
The strategy calls for limits on sugar, fats and salt in the diet and for
issues such as marketing - particularly to children - to be addressed while
considering how to use taxpayers resources to favour the increased consumption
of fruits and vegetables while removing the tax-funded benefits and subsidies
to sugar and oils."
"Now the global food and soft drinks industries must demonstrate their
commitment to helping to promote the health of their consumers. The current
widely recognised practice of putting higher prices on healthier options for a
niche market and the intense mass marketing of cheap fat/sugar/salt combinations
must transformed so that food and drinks industry can
be part of the solution."
The IOTF delivered a strong joint statement during the World Health Assembly
debate in
The statement stressed that a growing proportion of the population is affected by overweight and obesity, which are powerful determinants of type 2 diabetes and other chronic non-communicable diseases. A new IOTF report to WHO on childhood obesity had found that 155 million schoolchildren were oveweight and more than one quarter of them were obese. The IOTF warned that one in three children born in the United States today is expected to develop type 2 diabetes, a disease once associated exclusively with old age, which can lead to blindness, amputations and kidney and heart failure.
The International Association for the Study of Obesity represents research experts, medical practitioners and health professionals concerned with obesity in 49 countries, many of whom will be in Prague this week for the European Congress on Obesity. (http://www.eco2004.cz.com). A press conference will be held on Thursday May 27 at 12 noon (11 am UK time). Further details available from http://www.iotf.org/media/eco13pressnotice.htm
A new joint report on obesity and diabetes, produced by the International Diabetes Federation with collaboration from IASO and the IOTF, will be launched in Prague on Friday May 28th and the IOTF report on childhood obesity will be formally launched at an IOTF workshop on Friday evening.
For further information contact:
Neville Rigby
Director of Policy and Public Affairs
IASO International Obesity TaskForce
Mobile +447939250347
www.iotf.org / www.iaso.org