Healthy living strategy launched

Obesity levels could see a massive increase Johnson in Commons

A £372m strategy aimed at cutting levels of obesity in England has been launched by the government.

The strategy includes £75m for an "aggressive" campaign to promote healthy living to parents.

Several "healthy towns" will be created at a cost of £30m with comprehensive cycle routes and pedestrian areas.

Ministers said measures could potentially include offering obese people vouchers for gyms as an incentive to exercise.

Tackling obesity is the most significant public and personal health challenge facing our society Alan Johnson Health Secretary Beating the bulge (again) Q&A: Obesity strategy

Announcing the strategy, Health Secretary Alan Johnson said

food labelling was also key to helping people eat well,

and said regulation may be needed if industry could not agree on one system.

There are currently two, with the government backing the "traffic lights" as opposed to labelling showing the percentages of guideline daily amounts (GDAs) a product contains.

In the UK, nearly a quarter of adults and nearly a fifth of children are obese after sharp increases in the last decade.

Experts have warned the number could soar unless action is taken. It is predicted that 60% of men, 50% of women and 25% of children could be obese by 2050 if action is not taken.

Children top priority

Obesity is linked to an increased risk of cancer, heart and liver disease and diabetes.

MAIN MEASURES Identify at-risk families and offer early support and advice Make cooking lessons compulsory for children Increase children's activity levels £75m healthy living marketing campaign aimed at parents Work with industry to agree a universal food labelling system and to reduce portion sizes of fatty or salty foods A review of junk food ad rules Limit fast-food outlets near schools and parks Incentives to encourage weight-loss Personalised support via the NHS Choices website and more weight management services Do incentives work? Town designed to be healthy

Ministers said support and information - rather than "hectoring and lecturing" - were key to cutting rates.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "We must do nothing less than transform the environment in which we all live.

"We must increase the opportunities we all have to make healthy choices around the exercise we take and the food we eat."

Ministers said tackling child obesity was the main aim. They pledged to reduce levels to those of the year 2000 by 2020.

The strategy focuses on measures to improve diet and lifestyle for pregnant women and children, promoting existing ideas such as encouraging new mothers to breastfeed.

It also includes the plans launched earlier this week for all children to receive cookery lessons in schools, and calls on all schools to have healthy lunchbox policies.

Planning powers

Councils will be urged to use their planning powers to prevent fast-food outlets setting up near schools.

But the strategy also sets out ways to improve adults' lifestyles, raising the possibility of financial incentives being paid to people to encourage them to live more healthily.

Existing measures to boost the number of people walking or cycling, rather than using the car are also included.

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Other measures outlined in the document include an early review of the junk food ad regulations recently introduced by broadcasting regulators Ofcom to protect children, and a plan to talk to the entertainment industry about tools to allow parents to manage how long children spend watching TV or playing computer games.

Employers will also be asked to play more of a role in helping workers be healthy - ministers suggesting holding weight loss competitions as a way of encouraging employees to lose weight.

Complex solution

Mr Johnson said:

"The core of the problem is simple - we eat too much and we do too little exercise. The solution is more complex.

"From the nature of the food we eat, to the built environment , through to the way our children lead their lives - it is harder to avoid obesity in the modern environment."

Professor Susan Jebb, chair of the expert group on obesity which advised the government on drawing up the strategy, said having an over-arching plan was more important than headline-grabbing initiatives, and welcomed the planned annual reviews of how measures were working.

But she added:

"A strategy alone doesn't miraculously help people live healthier lives. It has got to be transformed into concrete action."

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "This announcement is typical of this government - it doesn't get to the root of the problem and provides a poor smokescreen for Labour's failure to make public health a real priority.

Norman Lamb, Lib Dem health spokesman, criticised the plan saying it amounted to "a series of vague aspirations and gimmicks, with few concrete commitments."

The Food and Drink Federation said UK manufacturers were "world leaders" in reformulating products, extending consumer choice and introducing improved nutrition labelling.

But Betty McBride, director of policy and communications at the British Heart Foundation, said: "The government is backing down from taking on industry in the fight against obesity.

"It is naive to expect voluntary compliance from an industry that is putting hundreds of millions of pounds into promoting these foods every year. Self-interest will always win out."

Adults misjudge weight problems

Rates of obesity are on the rise

More Britons are failing to recognise they are overweight, research shows

A comparison of Great Britain household surveys from 1999 and 2007 show the number of people classed as clinically overweight or obese has increased.

But fewer adults now correctly class themselves as overweight, researchers report in the British Medical Journal.

One expert said the results were "disappointing" in light of greater awareness of the problems of obesity among the general public.

As more of us become obese, the average weight and average appearance has become heavier and rounder Dr Ian Campbell

In each of the surveys adults were asked to give their height and weight which was used to calculate their BMI.

And they were asked which clinical weight category - very underweight, underweight, about right, overweight or very overweight - they thought they fell into.

The proportion of obese people had nearly doubled from 11% in 1999 to 19% in 2007.

In 1999, 43% of the population had a BMI that put them in the overweight or obese range, of whom 81% correctly identified themselves as overweight.

But in 2007, 53% of the population had a BMI in the overweight or obese range, but only 75% of these correctly classed themselves as overweight.

"Normal"

The researchers from the Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London said

one reason for the findings could be that as a greater proportion of the population becomes overweight, people's perception of what is "normal" changes.

Study leader, Professor Jane Wardle, said: "

The other explanation we put forward was that the media often illustrate articles about overweight with a person with a very high BMI giving the impression that is the size that's important.

"Half of those with a BMI in the 25 to 30 range did not recognise they were overweight and that's the range we'd like people to start taking action so their weight doesn't get any higher,"

she said.

One upside to the findings was that women who are a healthy weight are now less likely to believe they are overweight, which had been a concern in the past, she added.

Dr Ian Campbell, a GP and medical director of Weight Concern said:

"Despite a much greater awareness among the public about the problems of obesity it seems fewer are recognising the problem in themselves.

"I agree this may be due to changing social norms - ie, as more of us become obese, the average weight and average appearance, has become heavier and rounder."

He added people needed to be made aware of how they measure themselves.

"Not just with scales as this seems to be easily misunderstood, but with specific waist measurements or body fat analysis,"

he said.

Google 15

Curve looking a little better. 26.8 pounds left to I reach goal of <25.0>

October 2, 2006: 187 pounds

October 16: 185 pounds

9th December: 179 pounds

24th December: 178 pounds

31st December: 177 pounds

15th Feb 2007: 174 pounds

March 10th: 174 pounds

March 17th: 172.2 pounds (12st 5lbs) - 17.2 pounds left. I briefly got down to 169 pounds (12st 1Ibs) on 17/3/07. (see above Google 15). Fitz said... Awesome work--I always love to hear a success story. Congratulation on your progress and best of luck with the next 17.2 pounds! - Fitz, author, "The Google 15". Instead of motivating me somehow I turned away from using Google 15 for almost a year. Dont know why. Reverse psychology or somethin'!

April 18th 2007: 175 pounds (after Turkey holiday). Last record until a year later .. I put on 12 pounds - a pound a month. The moral is... keep measuring and motivating with The Google 15!

April 2008: A YEAR ON! 187 pounds - 13st 5 pounds, 15 pounds added since before Turkey holiday March 2007.

July 7th: 183 pounds - 4 pounds lost since restarting Google 15 Monitoring.

11th July: 183 pounds

Being too fat 'can damage sperm'

By Caroline Parkinson Health reporter, BBC News, Barcelona

The world's obese population is rising

Obese men have poorer quality sperm, perhaps because too much fat around their testicles causes them to heat up, scientists have suggested.

University of Aberdeen researchers looked at the sperm of over 2,000 men in couples having problems conceiving.

The heaviest men had a higher proportion of abnormal sperm, as well as other problems.

The scientists told a European fertility conference losing weight probably boosted fertility.

We are pleased to be able to add improved semen quality to the long list of benefits that we know are the result of an optimal body weight Dr Ghiyath Shayeb University of Aberdeen

Being obese is already known to affect women's chances of getting pregnant.

The men were divided into four groups, according to their BMI (body mass index).

Other factors which could affect fertility, such as smoking, high alcohol use and age, were taken into account by the researchers.

Men who had a healthy BMI of 20 to 25 were had higher levels of normal sperm than those who were heavier.

They also had higher semen volume, the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting in Barcelona was told.

But those with a higher BMI had lower volumes of seminal fluid, and a higher proportion of abnormal sperm.

There was no significant difference between the four groups in sperm concentration or activity.

Other studies have also linked obesity to DNA damage in the sperm.

Semen quality

Dr Ghiyath Shayeb, who led the research, said: "Our findings were quite independent of any other factors and seem to suggest that men who are trying for a baby with their partners, should first try to achieve an ideal body weight.

"This is in addition to the benefit of a healthy BMI for their general well being.

"Adopting a healthy lifestyle, a balanced diet, and regular exercise will, in the vast majority of cases, lead to a normal BMI.

"We are pleased to be able to add improved semen quality to the long list of benefits that we know are the result of an optimal body weight."

The researchers will now look at male BMI in fertile and infertile couples to see if the poorer semen quality is directly linked to poor fertility, and examine further how obesity can damage sperm.

Dr Shayeb said there were a number of possible explanations, including different hormone levels in obese men, overheating of the testicles caused by excessive fat in the area, or simply the lifestyle and diet that leads to obesity also causing poorer semen quality.

Dr Ian Campbell, chair of the charity Weight Concern, said

it was known that overweight people had a tendency to have fewer children.

He said there had been a suspicion that was mainly due to lack of opportunity.

"But if weight actually has a detrimental effect on sperm quality, that's really interesting," he said

"It's one more reason for men to lose weight."

The Google 15 - measure your weight every day gives weekly moving average weight

After my last 'diet' aided by The Google 15 tool, I reduced my weight to 12st 1 pound (Feb 07). From mid 2006 I measured my weight every day reducing quantity or changing type of food. Plus a bit of exercise (run or walk). Every day I measured my weight on Google 15. Over some 9-12 months I had lost 20 pounds.

However over the last 18 months I've put back on the 20 pounds I lost! At April 2008 I was 13st 5 pounds.

As the Google 15 FAQ says "Of course, the big secret that you never hear is that the hardest part about losing weight is keeping the weight off once you've lost it... So don't stop using it once you've made your goal weight--enter your weight every day and it will give you an early warning if you start to pack on the pounds!"

That was my mistake - I stopped using Google 15 every day and soon had gained all the weight I'd lost!

My mum told me a few weeks ago "I weigh myself everyday, adjusting my diet and exercise levels, to maintain my weight". I think she is within a few pounds of 8 stone so at 5'1" has a healthy BMI 21.1. She has been that weight or thereabouts for most of her adult life.

Using The Google 15 I reduce lunch intake to a banana when my weight change one week ago is less than 0.5 pounds and less than 0.1 pounds yesterday. In this way losing 1 to 2 pounds loss a month is achievable (mathematically). 2 pounds a month or 0.5 pound per week means a deficit of 1750 calories a week or 250 calories a day or ~10% normal calorie intake.

Unlike some diet recommendations (says Katie Geary) I think I should weigh myself every day both during AND after my diet - take a lesson from my mum!