IOTF press release –
September 3 2003 
Waiting for a green light for
health?
The EU
should adopt tougher regulations on food advertising to children and more
effective labelling rules among a range of long-term measures to persuade
Europeans to switch to a healthier diet, according to a report released today.
The
food industry should be encouraged to take a lead in helping to combat the epidemic
of obesity, and give greater emphasis to healthier products while putting the
brakes on the “hard sell” promoting products that have too much fat, sugar and
salt.
Prof
Philip James, chairman of the London-based International Obesity TaskForce,
said that the food industry had to be “part of the solution” to the problem of
increasing levels of overweight and obesity.
Effective
measures to promote better lifestyles needed to incorporate changes in the way
food was processed and marketed to make it easier for people to make healthy
choices, he told a European Union conference in Milan.
The
IOTF report warns that Europe is at the crossroads for diet and diseases with overweight
and obesity affecting as many as one in three children, and adult rates increasing
throughout Europe. Obesity rates in Britain are three times the level they were
in 1980 and the very severe Class 3 obesity levels had begun to rise.
The report says stronger and more focused prevention
measures dealing with both diet and activity require the direct involvement of
many departments of government as well as business and civil society. Politicians
and business leaders need to agree to:
·
Better protection for children from the “aggressive”
advertising and marketing
- Food and
drink companies should commit to support public health goals.
- Labelling
should be made simpler for consumers to distinguish products that should
not be over-consumed.
- Farmers should
be encouraged to increase the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables
instead of subsidies for oils, fats and sugars.
- An “active
Europe” policy should involve a vigorous reassessment of urban development,
and transport policies to depend less on cars and make it easier to be
active
- The EU should
involve a wider cross-section of experts, NGOs and industry to develop
long term healthy lifestyles initiatives.
Note
to editors:
Obesity
poses a major risk for serious diet-related noncommunicable diseases, including
diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and certain forms of
cancer. Its health consequences range from increased risk of premature death to
serious chronic conditions that reduce the overall quality of life.
The
international standard for measuring overweight and obesity, the Body Mass
Index (BMI), defined as weight (in kg) divided by the square of one's height
(in m): kg/m2.
For
assessing obesity in adult populations, the BMI categories are:
BMI
25kg/m2 for overweight (Pre-obese: BMI 25-29.9 kg/m2)
BMI
30kg/m2 for obesity:
- Class
I obese: BMI 30-34.9kg/m2
-
Class II obese: BMI 35-39.9kg/m2
-
Class III obese: BMI 40kg/m2.
The
World Health Report 2002 estimated that more than 2.5 million deaths annually
are weight related and forecast this could rise to 5 million by 2020. Deaths
directly related to obesity have been estimated at 320,000 a year in Europe and
more than 300,000 in the USA.
Useful Links:
Broadcasting Bad Health: Why food marketing to children needs to be controlled
Food Commission on behalf of the International Association of Consumer
Food Organizations (IACFO)
Foodaware proposals for
an EU nutrition policy
European Commission Public Health
WHO/FAO 916
Report - Strategic directions and
recommendations for policy and researchhttp://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/AC911E/ac911e08.htm#bm08.2