The language is dramatic. The final report of the cross-party Commission on Health and Prosperity calls the UK the ‘sick man of Europe’.
And the House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee, meanwhile, has released a report titled: ‘Recipe for health: a plan to fix our broken food system’.
Coming out within almost a month of each other, the two reports find common ground, even though one focuses on the nation’s health and the other addresses food and diet.
At the core of the Commission on Health and Prosperity’s recommendations is a move from what it calls ‘a reactive, sickness orientated 20th century healthcare system’ into a proactive 21st century health creation system, working in parallel to the NHS’s ‘sickness service’.
The overarching goal for the health creation system would be to add ten years to healthy life expectancy by 2055 and to halve regional health inequalities.
The House of Lords report, meanwhile, says that two-thirds of adults are overweight and just under a third are living with obesity.
“After tobacco, diet-related risks now make the biggest contribution to years of life lost. The annual societal cost of obesity is at least 1%–2% of UK GDP,” it says.
"Unhealthy diets are the primary driver of obesity, with people in all income groups failing to meet dietary recommendations.”
Baroness Walmsley, chair of the Food, Diet and Obesity Committee, believes that previous Government policies that focused on personal choice and responsibility out of misguided fears of the ‘nanny state’ have failed.
“Both the Government and the food industry must take responsibility for what has gone wrong and take urgent steps to put it right,” she says.
Both reports see food and diet playing a major role in helping British people become healthier, happier, and more productive.
Health Commission proposals
Among the Health and Prosperity Commission’s specific proposals, for example, it wants to tax what it calls ‘health polluters’.
In this category are tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food companies, and the aim would be to levy a tax on them that would raise over £10bn a year by the end of the current parliament.
This money would be used to fund new good health schemes such as a fresh fruit and vegetable subsidy.
The Commission, whose report was prepared by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), also proposes a ‘new beginning’ for childhood health.
IPPR analysis found that there has been a substantial decline in childhood health over the last decade – meaning thousands more infant deaths, tens of thousands more children with obesity and hundreds of thousands more young people with health conditions than had stagnation continued.
The report argues this constitutes a breakdown in children’s ‘health inheritance’ – and is the first time in around 200 years that a generation is not guaranteed to live a much longer, healthier life than that that came before it.
To get children’s health back on track, the Commission proposes a future generation health plan including universal free school meals, restoration of Sure Start and an end to the Two Child Limit.
Diet and Obesity Committee proposals
The House of Lords Diet and Obesity Committee also has the food industry in its sights.
As part of a new comprehensive strategy, it wants the Government to make large food businesses report on the healthiness of their sales and exclude businesses that derive more than a defined share of sales from less healthy products from any discussions on the formation of policy on food, diet and obesity prevention.
It also urges the introduction of a salt and sugar reformulation tax on food manufacturers, building on what it calls the success of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. It says the Government should consider how to use the revenue generated to ‘make healthier food cheaper’, particularly for people living with food insecurity.
It wants to see a ban on the advertising of less healthy food across all media by the end of this Parliament, following the planned 9pm watershed and ban on paid-for online advertising due to come into force in October 2025.
It says the Government should also immediately develop an ambitious strategy for maternal and infant nutrition and drive up compliance with the school food standards, which it believes will help break the ‘vicious cycle’ by which children living with obesity are five times more likely to become adults with obesity.
It also proposes enabling auto-enrolment for Healthy Start and free school meals, along with a review of the costs and benefits to public health of increasing funding and widening eligibility for both schemes.
It adds that further research should be commissioned into the links between ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and adverse health outcomes, with a review of dietary guidelines to reflect any new evidence. It calls the ‘rapidly growing body of epidemiological evidence showing correlation between consumption of UPFs and poor health outcomes’ alarming.
What they said
Dame Sally Davies, former chief medical officer for England and Wales, a co-chair of the Commission of Health and Prosperity, said: “I have long argued that better health is Britain’s greatest, untapped resource for happiness, economic growth and national prosperity. This commission has now provided the irrefutable evidence that this is true. A Government that wants to deliver growth, sustainable public services and fairness throughout Britain needs to take note.
“One of the most impactful choices they could make is to prioritise a new beginning on childhood health. No one would question that education is both about a child’s immediate wellbeing and their long-term economic prospects. The same is true for health. We simply should not tolerate decline in our children’s health any longer - it is time for bold action to ensure a health inheritance for future generations.”
And Baroness Walmsley, chair of the Food, Diet and Obesity Committee, said: “Food should be a pleasure and contribute to our health and wellbeing, but it is making too many people ill. Something must be going wrong if almost two in five children are leaving primary school with overweight or obesity and so many people are finding it hard to feed healthy food to their families.
“That is why we took a root and branch look at the food system and analysed what had gone wrong over the past few decades. Over the last 30 years successive Governments have failed to reduce obesity rates, despite hundreds of policy initiatives.
“We hope, given the recent comments from the Prime Minister, Lord Darzi and the Secretary of State for Health, that there is now an appetite to shift towards prevention of ill health. We urge the Government to look favourably on our plan to fix our broken food system and accept that not only is it cost-effective, but that it would lead to a lot less human misery.”