8 2GM Monday June 29 2020 | the timesNews
Boris Johnson faces a test of his com-
mitment to action against obesity after
officials told him to consider plans to
ban junk food advertising before 9pm
and “buy one get one free” deals.
Mr Johnson was converted to the
need to deal with Britain’s national
weight problem by his own brush with
death and is planning to use people’s
fear of coronavirus to encourage them
to eat better and exercise more.
Exercise and cookery classes for mil-
lions of the overweight are among pro-
posals being considered as Mr Johnson
widens the focus from preventing child
obesity to treating it in adults, with offi-
cials actively drawing up policy options.
However, in a test of his willingness
to embrace “nanny state” policies, the
Department of Health has dusted off
stalled plans to ban two-for-one deals
on junk food and impose a 9pm water-
shed on advertising unhealthy prod-
ucts. Mr Johnson’s policy unit is now
considering whether or not to press
ahead with policies kicked into the long
grass when he took over from Theresa
May, but no decision has yet been taken.
Ministers have decided to launch an
advertising blitz aiming to use people’s
fear of coronavirus to encourage them
to live more healthily after an official
review concluded earlier this month
that being overweight increases the
risk of dying of Covid-19.
Advertising agencies and Public
Health England have been told to draw
up a campaign designed to capitalise on
a “reset moment” as people take stock
of their lifestyle and health risks as Brit-
ain emerges from the first wave of the
pandemic.
Whitehall sources said there was an
opportunity to encourage people to
lose weight after months stuck at home
comfort eating.
Those who are very obese are twice
as likely to die of the virus and those
judged to be overweight are 26 per cent
more likely to die.
The campaign is designed to be “mo-
tivational” rather than terrifying, butThe Royal College of GPs has
apologised over an online conference
that referred to coronavirus as “a
lifestyle disease”.
The college event was titled: “Covid-
19: A lifestyle disease and the vital role
GPs have in beating it.”
Dr Stephanie deGiorgio, a GP, wrote:
“Covid is a virus, it’s not a lifestyle dis-
ease. I am quite frankly horrified that
you are encouraging this agenda.”
Addressing Professor Martin Mar-
shall, chairman of the RCGP, she added:
“This isn’t OK.”
Dr Mike Smith, another GP, added:
“How on earth did this get through
your comms team? I have thought
about this all day and have to say you
dishonour the thousands of people who
have perished. Age, ethnicity, male, are
clearly not lifestyle related.
“You are a disgrace today and made
[me] embarrassed to be a GP.”
Responding to criticism, Dr ZoeGPs sorry for linking virus to lifestyle
Williams, one of the conference’s co-
chairs, said in a video on Twitter: “We
chose a slightly controversial title on
purpose to make the link and the con-
nection between Covid-19 and lifestyle
medicine.
“Now, of course, we know that Covid-
19 is not a lifestyle disease, it’s a commu-
nicable disease, but... Covid-19 does
not affect all people equally.
“So in addition to age, and ethnicity,
people are at higher risk of a poor out-
come if they have had diabetes, obesity,
heart disease, liver disease, kidney dis-
ease, and some cancers. And most of
those conditions, if not all, to some ex-
tent, are linked to lifestyle.”
She urged doctors to watch the vid-
eos of the sessions before making any
judgments. However, the college said
on Saturday night: “The RCGP does
not consider Covid-19 to be a lifestyle
disease. We recognise that the title of
today’s conference could be misleading
and we apologise for any offence
caused. The purpose of the conferenceis to support GPs to give appropriate
lifestyle advice for patients.”
Professor Marshall said yesterday:
“We reiterate how sorry we are for the
distress that the inappropriate title of
this course has caused. GPs are on the
front line of tackling this terrible virus
and we have lost many patients and col-
leagues to it. To suggest it is a lifestyle
disease is wrong.
“The purpose of the conference was
to support GPs to offer lifestyle advice
to patients generally, and in the context
of Covid-19, and by all accounts it was a
productive meeting that more than 500
delegates attended.
“But the title and course description
was misjudged and misleading and we
issued a clarification as soon as it was
brought to our attention. This error
should not have happened and our sin-
cere apologies go to our members and
to our patients and communities who
have been directly affected. We send
our condolences to those who have
been bereaved as a result of Covid-19.”Kat LayEarly intervention needed to
get the nation in better shape
Analysis
B
ritish waistlines have been
expanding, slowly but
surely, for decades (Kat Lay
writes). More than a
quarter of the adult
population is now obese, and when
you add in those who are classified
merely as overweight, it rises to two
thirds. In England, a fifth of children
in their final year of primary school
were in the obese category. Those
statistics put us firmly among the
fattest nations in Europe.
It is not a problem with an easy
answer. The “food environment” in
the UK plays a role, as do rates of
physical activity and the availability
of help for those who want to lose
weight. It is also enmeshed with
other issues in society, with rates of
obesity higher in poorer areas. Year
Six children — those in the final
year of primary school — are twice
as likely to be obese if they live in the
most deprived areas, compared with
their least deprived counterparts.
However, many experts argue that
what answers there are have not
been applied with sufficient vigour.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity
Forum, has long argued for more
frequent weigh-ins for adults andchildren to “nip [the problem] in the
bud”. Successive governments, he
said, had failed to grasp the
importance of early intervention.
Scientific studies back up the
rationale, finding that biological
mechanisms kick in to make it far
harder to lose weight than to pile it
on, in what might once have been an
evolutionary advantage.
Many activists say there has been
an over-reliance on voluntary action
from the food industry, rather than
compulsory rules on displaying
calorie counts, promotions in
supermarkets, or levels of sugar.
While more dieting programmes
are being made available through
the NHS, surgeons who perform
weight-loss surgery say that more
use could be made of their services.
For each bariatric operation in the
UK, there are ten in France.
The Royal College of Physicians is
calling for obesity to be recognised
as a chronic disease, as opposed to
an issue of self-control. Until that
happens, they say, the stigma means
progress is unlikely. Andrew
Goddard, its president, said: “It is
not a lifestyle choice caused by
individual greed but a disease
caused by health inequalities,
genetic influences and social factors.”News Coronavirus
Johnson urged to curb TV junk
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor will make clear that staying healthy is
protective against coronavirus. Obesity
is linked to numerous long-term condi-
tions including heart disease, cancer
and diabetes, some of which them-
selves make Covid-19 more dangerous.
The Times revealed last month that
Mr Johnson was planning a “much
more interventionist” drive on obesity
after revising his previously sceptical
stance. He is understood to have con-
cluded that his own weight was the rea-
son he ended up in intensive care after
catching coronavirus. Mr Johnson is
thought to have weighed 17 and a half
stone before becoming ill, which at 5ft
9in would have had him nudging the
very obese category.
Over the past two weeks civil ser-
vants in the Department of Health have
returned to working on obesity policy
after spending the pandemic seconded
to other areas.
Weight-loss programmes involving
diet and exercise classes, motivational
apps and wearable activity monitors
have been shown to work and the NHS
is already putting hundreds of thou-
sands of people who are at risk of diabe-
tes on the courses in the hope of saving
money in the long run. Weight-loss
surgery has also been found to be cost
effective and a huge expansion has long
been urged by experts.
However, a clash with health cam-
paigners looms if Mr Johnson focuses
on exercise and public information in-
stead of regulation and tax. The TV and
advertising industries are lobbying
hard against advertising bans.
Caroline Cerny, of the Obesity
Health Alliance of doctors and chari-
ties, said: “Any healthy eating cam-
paign from government would have to
compete against the millions spent by
food manufacturers, plastering their
high sugar and fat products across
prime-time TV and social media to
keep their products firmly in the spot-
light. [The government] needs to bring
in a comprehensive approach to ensure
only healthier foods can be marketed
and provide effective, evidence-based
weight management support.”R
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