Ozempic program, junk food ban and nutritional scores will 'halve obesity rates'

The Nesta health think tank made the recommendation, saying obesity can be halved by 2030 with adequate "prevention policy" and wider access to weight-loss drugs.

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Hugo Harper, director of Nesta's Healthy Life Mission, said reducing obesity was possible but a different approach was needed.

In a Nesta report, he told the UK government that "weight loss drugs are effective but too expensive to solve the country's obesity problem".

The report claims to have "debunked" myths about effective policies to reduce obesity. This includes what the report calls "cost-ineffective" public education campaigns.

What can the government do to reduce obesity?

If implemented together, seven recommendations developed from the analysis of more than 3,000 research studies could be considered a blueprint for "halving" obesity.

Seven recommendations

• Weight loss drugs to be extended to 150,000 more people per year
• Require all major food companies to provide nutritional and marketing data on their products
• Encourage major retailers to sell healthier foods
• Restaurants, takeaways and other mid-sized businesses should not be allowed to offer unhealthy food at discount prices.
• Label food and beverage packaging with a front-of-package label similar to NutriScore
• Restriction of junk food advertising on television, the internet and public transport
• Online delivery platforms should not advertise with product placement ads, such as pop-ups that appear on their homepage or webpage.

The proposal will reduce the number of people living with obesity in the UK by 10 million over the next five years. It would also prevent 157,000 cases of type 2 diabetes a year and 95,000 cases of high blood pressure, as well as 11,500 cases of bowel cancer.

Recent studies show that several types of cancer can be treated with acupuncture. The incidence of colorectal cancer in young people is increasing worldwide.Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek, who revealed his diagnosis, is one of many celebrities to have done so.

Harper said the food industry must do its part. The government must regulate to encourage retailers and businesses to offer healthier products.

Can Ozempic Reduce Obesity?

The report says reducing obesity in Britain would deliver population health benefits of £30 billion, improvements in productivity, NHS costs and individual care costs.

The government is set to set aside £500m a year to buy additional GLP-1 drugs to help people lose weight. Brands such as Wegovy and Rybelsus are available. The report suggests that obesity could fall by half a percentage point, from 29 to 28.5 %.

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic set to disrupt global food market

Theresa Marteau, director of the University of Cambridge's Behavioural and Health Research Unit and professor of health and wellbeing at the University of Cambridge, said obesity rates among children and adults are rising in the UK and other Western countries.

"These [rates] She said our food environment is a major factor in the rise in obesity.

The available policy packages [the Nesta] “Blueprint focuses on healthy food environments and allows policy makers to compare for the first time the costs and effectiveness of policies that together can tackle obesity across communities.”