Diet found guilty for obesity-related disease
impact of diet on health, suggesting we need to cut intake of
saturated fats, salt and sugar and up fruit and veg. Health
think-tank the International Obesity TaskForce says the findings
show the need for action, by both governments and the food
industry, to change diets in the developed world.
"The biggest global health burden for the world is dietary in origin." according to Professor Philip James, chairman of the health think-tank International Obesity TaskForce, and a member of the expert group involved in the new WHO report on diet and health released last week.
James highlighted the urgent need for the food industry to change the nutrient content of foods and the way they are produced, rather than resorting to "food labelling systems that no-one understands".
"We are already seeing the impact of diet in terms of rising levels of diet and weight-related diseases. This burden is here to stay and is sure to get worse, unless we act now and treat this with a real sense of urgency," said Professor James.
Last week, the World Health Organisation announced the findings of an expert group, which spent over a year preparing a controversial report on the impact of diet on health. The 'Expert Report' has been released as WHO prepares a Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health following a May 2002 World Health Assembly resolution from its Member States.
The report calls for a limit in the consumption of saturated and trans fats, sugars and salt in the diet, noting they are often found in snacks, processed foods and drinks.
The International Obesity TaskForce has confirmed the need for action, with the forecast that adult obesity rates could rise to almost 50 per cent in little over 20 years in some countries.
Children could be even more seriously affected as more evidence emerges of increasing numbers of overweight and obese youngsters developing type 2 diabetes.
The International Obesity TaskForce Adult says that obesity rates rose in the UK from 6-8 per cent in 1980 to 21-23.5 per cent in 2001. Among UK children overweight and obesity rates doubled to more than 20 per cent in less than 15 years, while in the US, 25 per cent of all white children overweight and 33 per cent of African American and Hispanic children were overweight in 2001.
All experts now conclude that the severity of the global obesity epidemic is the result of changes in diet and activity in recent decades. And while concern comes mostly from the US and UK, where obesity has rocketed over the past 20 years, both numbers of overweight and obesity are rising everywhere and having a severe impact in many parts of the developing world.
"Despite all the attempts so far to increase the provision of healthier choices over the last 10 or more years, obesity rates have accelerated. The challenge now is to make the diet healthier by a progressive improvement in the nutritional value and lowering the energy density of all foods. Everybody's diet needs to change without consumers having to struggle with food labelling systems that no-one understands," said Professor James.
He urged health ministers, international agencies, all levels of national and local government, and also businesses to take on the role of making changes in the way we live - from depending less on cars and being more active to reducing the consumption of the fatty, sugary and salty diets we have at present and increasing consumption of healthier food.
"This means the biggest challenge ever for the food industry, which finds itself in a difficult predicament. Major investors are being warned about the risks of leaving their capital long term in parts of the food sector that, like the tobacco industry, may be vulnerable to large-scale health damages from lawsuits particularly in the US," he said.
"Yet recent analysis has shown that the vast majority of opinion leaders among food manufacturers and retailers agree that they must provide more of the healthier food choices consumers are already signalling they want. The food industry must now sit down with WHO, and others to work out how to seriously address this issue and become part of the solution rather than remaining part of the problem," Professor James added.
The WHO Expert Report has also urged governments to aim for dietary guidelines that are simple, realistic and food-based. Finland and Japan, countries that have actively intervened in the diet and nutritional behaviour of their populations, have witnessed dramatic decreases in risk factors and plunging rates of chronic disease, the report says.
Last week the Food Commission, a UK organisation which campaigns on food-related issues such as labelling, nutrition and safety, claimed that the British food industry is deliberately targeting both children and their parents with marketing programmes which encourage bad diet. The claims were, however, rejected by the UK food industry which said children's advertising was already governed by codes of practice, to which it adhered.
The WHO Expert Report will be formally published in April as a WHO/FAO technical report together with an evaluation by the organisations and outlines of actions to implement the recommendations.
