The House of Lords Food, Diet, and Obesity Committee has released a critical report, “Recipe for Health: A Plan to Fix Our Broken Food System,” calling for urgent government action to combat what it describes as a “public health emergency” due to obesity and poor diet. The report, published on the 24th October 2024, outlines a comprehensive strategy to address the escalating rates of obesity and diet-related diseases, which are costing the UK billions annually in healthcare and lost productivity.
The report reveals that two-thirds of UK adults are overweight, with nearly one-third classified as obese. Obesity ranks just behind tobacco as a leading cause of life years lost, with diet-related risks contributing significantly to early deaths. The economic toll of obesity and diet-related diseases is staggering, costing 1–2% of the UK’s GDP each year.
The Committee’s findings highlight a decades-long failure to curb obesity despite nearly 700 government initiatives introduced between 1992 and 2020. Policies focusing on individual responsibility have largely proven ineffective, as unhealthy, highly processed foods have become cheaper, more accessible, and more heavily marketed than their healthier counterparts. This approach, driven by fears of government overreach, has only worsened health inequalities, the report notes.
Recommendations for Government Action
The report outlines specific measures the government should adopt as part of a comprehensive, integrated strategy to reverse the country’s diet-related health decline. The proposed actions include:
- Mandatory Reporting by Food Businesses: Large food companies should report the health impact of their products and be excluded from policy discussions if they heavily rely on sales of unhealthy items.
- Stronger Oversight and Taxation: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) should be given independent oversight of the food system. A proposed salt and sugar tax on food manufacturers, modelled on the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, could help make healthier foods more affordable.
- Comprehensive Advertising Bans: The report calls for a total ban on unhealthy food advertising across all media by the end of this Parliament, following the planned 9pm watershed and ban on paid-for online advertising in October 2025.
- Further Research on Ultra-Processed Foods: With growing evidence linking ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to adverse health outcomes, the report urges further study in this area.
- Support for Maternal, Infant, and School Nutrition: The Committee stresses the need for an ambitious plan to improve maternal and infant nutrition and strengthen school food standards to reduce childhood obesity, as children with obesity are five times more likely to remain obese into adulthood.
- Expanded Support for Vulnerable Families: The report suggests automatic enrolment in programs like Healthy Start and free school meals for eligible families to alleviate food insecurity and promote healthier diets among low-income households.
Baroness Walmsley, Chair of the Food, Diet and Obesity Committee said: “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.
“Over the last 30 years successive governments have failed to reduce obesity rates, despite hundreds of policy initiatives.
“Both the Government and the food industry must take responsibility for what has gone wrong and take urgent steps to put it right.
“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.”
As obesity rates in the UK continue to climb, the Committee hopes the government will embrace a preventive approach to public health. Citing recent support from figures like the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health, the Committee calls for immediate implementation of its recommendations to “build a food system that enables us all to live healthy lives, protects the NHS, and better ensures the nation’s prosperity.”
