Leeds academic joins celeb chefs to demand more action on childhood obesity
Beckett University expert will team-up with Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall today at
A Leeds Beckett University expert's in parliament today - to join forces with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver - and call for more to be done to tackle childhood obesity.
Dr James Nobles - who's a Research Fellow in Public Health and Obesity - has been invited to speak to the House of Commons' Health & Social Care Select Committee today alongside the celebrity chefs.
Dr Nobles will be giving his view on the government's plans on reducing the number of overweight children - with statistics showing in Leeds 1-in-3 youngsters leaving primary school are classed as overweight or obese.
He said: "There are three main areas that we plan to call upon the Government to consider.
"Firstly, how they could utilise a whole systems approach to better tackle childhood obesity. A whole systems approach acknowledges that obesity is caused by a complex and interconnected set of factors, which no single approach will solve. We require local and national governments to rally their leaders, to draw on their expertise, and to agree on common shared outcomes, which can change the environments in which we all live, work and play. The Childhood Obesity Plan has started to do this, but we need more collective actions rather than singular solutions.
"Secondly, we want to bring into focus the one-third of children who are overweight and obese; these children were not considered in the first version of the Childhood Obesity Plan. At the moment, very little money is invested in weight management services in England, with almost half of our Local Authorities not having a service for children. If left untreated, children who are overweight or obese are likely to develop more complex conditions, which also require more expensive care. As part of a whole systems approach, we need to consider how we can help all children and young people, and not just try to prevent obesity from spreading further.
"Finally, I will urge them to think about weight stigma, and how this has negative implications on any efforts at trying to tackle obesity. We need to create a society that promotes and supports a healthier environment for all.
"I will challenge the HSCC to think about new, more aligned ways of working on one of this century’s most complex and wicked issues."